Feel Good Inc
by Kawaii-Akuhei
Summary: “So basically you want me to go whoring around with the higherups over at Uchiha Inc.?” “No, Sakura, I want you to go whoring around with THE higherup.” Rated for language and suggestive themes. SasuSaku.
1. Do WHAT now?

**Feel Good Inc.  
****Chapter One: Do WHAT now?**

**Summary: **"So basically you want me to go whoring around with the higher-ups over at Uchiha Inc.?" "No, Sakura, I want you to go whoring around with THE higher-up." Rated for language and suggestive themes. SasuSaku.

**Disclaimer: **We don't own Naruto or any of its characters.

**Author's Note:** Hey everyone, it's Kawaii and Akuhei out with a new story. We thought we'd write a romance fic for once. Enjoy! And don't forget to review. Remeber, the more reviews we get, the faster the updates will come.

-------------------------------------------------

"…"

"…?"

"…he said no."

"Again? Shikamaru, this is crucial!"

"This is too troublesome…"

"You understand that we will have to file for bankruptcy if this doesn't work out?"

"I understand, Haruno-sama. Send Hinata. She can freak him out with her eyes."

"Do you think that hasn't crossed my mind?"

"What's the problem then?"

"Neji-san works there, and frankly, he's the scariest person I have ever had the misfortune of meeting."

"E-excuse m-me, Haruno-sama?" a shy, violet-haired woman stuttered nervously. Shikamaru turned around to face the door.

"Ah, Hinata-san, what do you need?" the CEO of Haruno and Co. questioned, redirecting his attention to her.

"Umm, Ino-san w-would like a word with you, if t-that's alright?"

"Yes, yes, of course," he waved his hand impatiently, "send her in."

Before Hinata could make a move to open the door, Ino barged into the office.

"I've got it!" she cried enthusiastically, pushing Shikamaru out of her way.

"Well?"

"We send forehead over there to work undercover!"

"Uhh…and?" Shikamaru questioned with annoyance.

"Well…I haven't thought that far ahead yet…"

"An interesting proposal, but that's what I pay Hinata-san and Shikamaru-san to do. Corporate spies. You are familiar with the term, correct?"

"Yes, I know Haruno-sama, but Sakura can seduce his gorgeous ass! You should see her at the clubs we go to, really it's quite-"

"Umm…I t-think it's in y-your best interest to s-stop, Ino-san," Hinata interrupted, noticing the CEO's reddening face.

"Oh, right, gotta stay focused. So what do you think, Haruno-sama?"

"I think that just might work. He probably is a hormone-crazed teenager," the CEO replied, shaking the thoughts of his daughter clubbing like a dirty prostitute out of his mind.

"He's 24, Haruno-sama."

"Well, they have those hormonal issues too, right Shikamaru-san?" Shikamaru flushed and turned his attention to a cloud outside of the window.

"Great, I'll go let her know!" Ino hurried out of the room grinning, Hinata scurrying behind her.

"Do you _really _think this is going to work, Haruno-sama?" Shikamaru asked him, doubt written all over his face.

"No. But we're desperate."

-------------------------------------------------

"Are you kidding me, Ino?" the pink-haired co-CEO asked her secretary incredulously.

"Come on, forehead, you _know _how much this will benefit Haruno and Co. My salary is at stake! And think about how proud your dad will be once you save the company!"

Sakura was silent for a moment, pondering the possibilities.

"So basically you want me to go whoring around with the higher-ups over at Uchiha Inc.?"

"No, I want you to go whoring around with THE higher-up."

"…the CEO? Have you lost it? I'd have better luck seducing a block of ice."

"Perfect, because that's essentially what you will be doing."

"…what do you mean exactly?"

"You'll find out as soon as you apply for a job there!"

"They only hire male models, you know. What use would I be there?"

"I'm sure they could think of _something _to do with you, don't worry."

"But I'm from Haruno and Co. Hell, I AM Haruno and Co. Do you seriously think they'd want the future CEO of a _weapons _company to work at a _modeling _agency?"

"That's why you will be known as 'Sakura Uzumaki,' the cousin of Naruto Uzumaki."

"Who on earth is Naruto Uzumaki?"

"The CEO's secretary," Ino sighed in annoyance, "anyway, Hinata will drive you there tomorrow morning for your job application. Don't worry, you'll do fine! I'll see you tomorrow after your interview!" Ino rushed out of Sakura's office, hearing the phone on her desk ringing frantically.

_Great. Now I have to pretend to be interested in some egotistical jerk. Ino, you will pay for this, I promise you._

-------------------------------------------------

"Thanks so much, Hinata, I'll call you after I'm done," Sakura said, stepping out of the luxurious BMW.

"O-okay, Sakura-san. Good luck!"

_Good luck? I don't need luck. I'll have that jackass on a leash by the time I get out of here. CHYEAH! _

Sakura briskly walked up the stone steps leading up to a large revolving glass door. She stood confidently in front of the building, before finally walking in. She was greeted by an elegant lobby, and strode over to the reception desk on the opposite end.

"Er, excuse me?" she questioned a receptionist who was busying herself reading the latest issue of _Vogue_. The woman looked up, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you want?"

"I'm here for an interview."

"So? What do you want me to do about it?"

"I'd like to know where to go, so I won't be late."

"Hey, is the job applicant here yet?" a tall, handsome blonde-haired man with alluring azure eyes questioned the receptionist as he strode into the lobby, completely ignoring a gaping Sakura.

"I think it's that…girl with the huge forehead and atrocious pink hair," the receptionist replied, scrunching her nose in disgust.

_Why that little bitch. She better watch herself! SHANNARO! _

The blonde turned to face her. Up close, Sakura noticed he had three scars on each side of his face, making him seem younger and more childish than he really was.

"Oh! Hey there," he grinned, holding out a hand for her to shake. She shook it, relieved that there were at least a few decent people working there. "What's your name?"

"Oh, how rude of me. My name is Sakura H-…Uzumaki. Yeah, Uzumaki." The blonde stared at her in disbelief for a moment, screwing up his face in thought.

"Hold on. We're not married or anything, right? I mean, I know I had a bit too much sake that night at the Club Konoha, but-"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Sakura asked in confusion, "who are you?"

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

"Ohh, so you're supposed to be my cousin!" she exclaimed, rethinking what Ino had told her, "er, I mean, you _are _my cousin!"

"…I didn't know I had a cousin…awesome!" the grin reappeared on his face as he lead her down the hall into a glass elevator. He pressed a button and Sakura peered over his shoulder, noticing it was the number 50.

"Wow…that's a long way up…" she couldn't help but comment.

"Well, who else would be on the top floor besides the top dog?"

"What? We're going to see the CEO? Now?"

"Family benefits," he winked at her as the elevator climbed past the 27th floor.

"Oh, of course," Sakura blushed slightly. _Don't blush you idiot, he's your cousin! Remember? _She unwillingly shook any naughty thoughts out of her head and looked out of the elevator. Down below she saw many extremely handsome, well-built men roaming around, conversing with each other. _I could get used to this place… _

"Okay, here we are," Naruto interrupted her thoughts as the elevator stopped abruptly. She followed him out into a large waiting area, an enormous door centering the opposing wall. The blonde opened the door, gesturing for her to go in. She hesitantly stepped inside, entering an expansive office. Naruto shut the door behind him as he walked past her and threw open another door at the far end.

"Hey teme, I have our new employee!"

"Dobe, don't you ever knock?" a suave voice remarked coolly.

"No. Should I bring her in?" Without waiting for an answer, he pulled Sakura by the arm into the office. "Meet my cousin, Sakura!"

"Your…cousin? Since when do you have a cousin?" an extremely gorgeous man with sleek midnight-blue hair and obsidian eyes to match retorted.

"Oh, I just met her today!" The CEO raised an eyebrow suspiciously as he glanced in a flushed Sakura's direction.

"What makes you think I should hire her?"

_What an ass! Why _wouldn't _he hire me?_

"Dude, she's family. You have to hire her!"

"I don't 'have' to do anything, dobe."

"If I may interrupt, I have experience with secretarial work, and I'm excellent at following orders," Sakura defended herself through gritted teeth.

"You're willing to do…anything?" Sasuke asked, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Of course," she stated immediately, remembering why she was standing here in the first place.

"Hn. I can see that you're somewhat capable." Naruto grinned at Sakura after hearing Sasuke's semi-compliment. A wave of relief washed over Sakura as she relaxed a bit.

"I take my coffee with cream, no sugar." He spun his chair around, turning his attention to the city below.

_WHAT A BASTARD! I CAN'T STAND HIM!_

-------------------------------------------------  
**Author's Note: **If you want to see what Naruto and Sasuke look like in this story, we have links of the pictures in our profile. As always, don't forget to review! And just to get you interested, here's a **preview of the second chapter**. But whether or not we post it is entirely up to you.

"Hey, let's get some people up here!"

"Why?"

"To play some poker of course!" Naruto pulled out a brand-new pack of cards and started shuffling them with a grin on his face.

After a few minutes of game play...

"Royal flush, bitches. Off with the pants!"

Amidst their undressing, none of the men noticed Sakura walk in.


	2. Bringin' Sexy Back

**Chapter Two: Bringin' Sexy Back**

**Disclaimer: **We don't own Naruto or anything affiliated with it, nor do we own any of the music we use our chapter titles and story titles for.

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone, Kawaii and Akuhei again. We'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited our story, it means a lot to us: **tiffanylicis, anon., 2supersmart, boo93, Arezal, Cherryblossomxsasuke, XxaoshixX, nickygirl, luvhateit, mentallyunstableX3, FallenTeenHearts, MorbidOriginal, LadyInu, sasukeschick, HersheysRocks**.

And also to those of you who put it on your alert list, we're extremely honored. :) Here's chapter two, hopefully you'll find it enjoyable and hilarious as we found it while we wrote it. But before we give you the actual chapter, we'll give you some character profiles so you'll understand the story better. As always, keep those reviews coming!

Again, check our profile for character pictures. It took forever to find them! Hope you enjoy!

_------------------------------------------------------------_

**Character Profiles: **

**Haruno and Co.: **a weapons company that is about to go bankrupt; rely on merging with Uchiha Inc. to remain in business

**Sakura Haruno: **24 years old; alias Sakura Uzumaki; future CEO of Haruno and Co.; must seduce the CEO of Uchiha Inc., Sasuke Uchiha

**Tenten:** 25 years old; principle supplier of weapons for Haruno and Co.

**Shikamaru Nara: **24 years old; works for Haruno and Co. as a corporate spy

**Hinata Hyuuga: **23 years old; works for Haruno and Co. as a corporate spy

**Ino Yamanaka: **24 years old; Sakura Haruno's secretary and best friend; takes over as co-CEO while Sakura is away

**Uchiha Inc.:** a high-end male modeling agency

**Sasuke Uchiha: **24 years old; the CEO of Uchiha Inc.; refuses to merge with Haruno Inc.; refuses to do business with the design label Akatsuki

**Naruto Uzumaki: **24 years old; Sasuke Uchiha's secretary and best friend

**Neji Hyuuga: **25 years old; head of Public Affairs

**Kiba Inuzuka:** 24 years old; a full time model for Uchiha Inc.

**Gaara Sabaku: **23 years old; head of Advertising

**Rock Lee:** 25 years old; Gaara's personal assistant

**Itachi Uchiha: **29 years old; betrayed Uchiha Inc. and transferred to the design label Akatsuki

_------------------------------------------------------------_

"Took you long enough," Sasuke snapped as he grabbed his coffee from the pink-haired woman. "Okay now I need you to go pick up Naruto's dry cleaning. Just go down to-"

"Wait, Naruto's dry cleaning? Why can't he just get it himself?" Sakura cried unbelievably. _I've been here three days and I'm still doing his chores! _

"Because he's busy," Sakura peered through the glass wall and saw Naruto fast asleep on his desk, "and I can't think of anything else for you to do."

Sakura could feel her face turning redder with every word he said.

"As I was saying, just go down about 3 streets."

"…and?"

"What? Go down 3 streets. I'm busy."

And with that he turned back to his paperwork, leaving a disgruntled Sakura still gawking in his direction.

_I don't care if he's hot as hell. He's the devil's incarnate! _

As she walked out of the office, making sure to slam the door as loudly as possible without breaking the surrounding glass, she glanced towards Naruto, sighing loudly, before proceeding to the elevator.

_------------------------------------------------------------_

POV: Sasuke

"Hey, what happened to Sakura?" Naruto yawned as he entered Sasuke's office.

"She went to get your dry cleaning."

"Oh. How nice of her!"

"Indeed." _I wonder how many hours it will take her. Three, four? The longer the better. Her pink hair is so obnoxious…_

Naruto sat down on the edge of Sasuke's desk.

"…do you need something, dobe?"

"Nah. I'm just bored."

A few awkward moments of silence passed.

"Hey, let's get some people up here!"

"Why?"

"To play some poker of course!" Naruto pulled out a brand-new pack of cards and started shuffling them with a grin on his face.

"If you can find anyone willing to tolerate your hyperactivity then go for it," Sasuke muttered, still reading through his many requests for models. _Why do I employ such desirable men?_

"Great!" Naruto hopped off the desk and out of the door.

_I should lock it while I still can. Where is that girl when I need her?_

Five minutes passed and Naruto finally returned bringing two men with him.

"Inuzuka, Hyuuga," Sasuke nodded, acknowledging their presence.

"Okay, let's get this game started." Naruto sat back on top of Sasuke's desk, much to his annoyance.

"I thought you said we had important matters to discuss," the silver-eyed stud with long, silky-smooth hair reaching his mid-back reminded the blonde.

"Yeah…discussing whether or not we should play poker or gin."

"How about strip?" the other tousle-haired hunk suggested.

"Kiba, why do you always insist playing strip poker?" the slightly violated Hyuuga questioned.

"Oh, are you getting a bit pudgy around the middle, Neji?" Kiba retorted.

"Kiba, we know you just want an excuse to look at your body," Naruto said, dealing out the cards. "News flash, I'm hotter."

"Hn."

"…so _that's _why he's your secretary." Neji remarked suggestively.

"Don't feel bad Hyuuga, you were a close second," Sasuke commented.

"And me?" Kiba couldn't help but ask.

"What about you?"

"Touché, Sasuke."

"Let's get on with it already," Naruto whined, having finished dealing.

"I agree," Kiba grinned, picking up his hand. The others followed his lead.

_------------------------------------------------------------_

Ten minutes of game play ensued.

"You lost again, dobe," Sasuke taunted, although he was in no position to speak himself. _Is it just me or is getting cold in here? _

"I barely have anything left to take off!" Naruto yelled, clad only in his orange-covered-in-daisies boxers, socks, and a sliver necklace. He reluctantly threw off the piece of jewelry and added it to his pile of clothes.

"Sucks for you," Kiba joked. He was still in a good position considering he had everything on except for his shirt.

"You're pathetic, Naruto," Neji added. He wasn't as well off as Kiba, but at least he had his pants on. Glancing over towards Sasuke, he noted that the CEO was running out of garments to shed. "You too, Uchiha."

Naruto picked up the cards, reshuffled them, and dealt them out again. "I'll win this time, believe it!"

"This is the last round I'm in, I still have work to do," Neji sighed.

Kiba peered at his cards. Knowing he couldn't win, and not exactly caring, he folded.

"Lay 'em down guys," Naruto demanded enthusiastically. Even before taking a glimpse of their cards, he jumped up from the ground and let out a whoop.

"Royal flush, bitches. Off with the pants!"

Amidst their undressing, none of the men noticed Sakura walk in.

"Sasuke-sama, I brought back his dry cleaning just…l-like you ass-asked! Asked. I'll just…go…"

All four men looked up, unnerved, as she rushed out.

"Well, that was awkward…at least she brought me some clothes!" Naruto snickered. "Oh, and don't forget the rules…anything that came off, stays off until the end of the day!" He stepped on Sasuke's brand-new Marc Jacobs' shirt as much as possible and made sure to kick Neji's Armani pants along the way, before he dashed out of the room to track down Sakura.

"Well, being a model has his merits," Kiba concluded as he, too, walked out of the office.

"Hyuuga, don't you have a meeting with the Public Affairs Committee to plan the next modeling show?" the Uchiha smirked. Neji threw him a glare before exiting.

_Dammit. It's getting really cold in here. Oh well. Now where's the rest of my paperwork?_

_------------------------------------------------------------_

**Preview of Chapter 3:**

_You've been here one week and you haven't seduced a single person. Way to go. _

Sakura sat at Naruto's desk, resting her head, since he was off doing something "important".

"Sakura, get in here," Sasuke called from his office. The girl sighed as she heard his voice.

_Wait a minute. This is my chance. I'll have to lay it down on him right now. CHYEAH!_


	3. Oh God

**Chapter Three: Oh God…**

**Disclaimer: **We don't own Naruto, blah blah blah.

**Author's Note: **We're here with another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews, again! **HersheysRocks, tiffanylicis, samireh, MarshmellowBunny, Arezal, 2supersmart, AsukaNaohito, boo93, sasukeschick, anon., lilxcutexmonstah, luvhateit, FallenTeenHearts, nickygirl, Riley-Mayori, tashi, MorbidOriginal, Cyberwing. **You guys are amazing. Keep the reviews coming!

---------------------------------------

_You've been here one week and you haven't seduced a single person. Way to go. _

Sakura sat at Naruto's desk, resting her head, as he was off doing something "important." Things had been awkward ever since the poker incident…

---------------------------------------

Flashback

"_Sakura! Sakura! Wait up!" the blonde called, running after her in his extremely vibrant orange boxers. Sakura kept walking, not wanting to turn around. Unfortunately for her, he caught up with ease. _

"_Hey," he panted, "you got my dry cleaning, right?" _

_Sakura studied his bare figure for a minute, not exactly hearing him. _Holy crap. He's so ripped…dammit…I want him! Shit! ...he's my 'cousin.' Ino, I hate you.

"_Huh?" she asked, still not paying attention._

"_Can I have my clothes now?"_

"_Oh…no. I mean, yes. Yeah, you can't-can have them." She reluctantly handed him his clothing._

"_Thanks!" he grinned, grabbing them, then began dressing. "This isn't bothering you, is it? Because you'll be seeing this a lot…everyone tends to play strip poker around here. Wait. I see another game over there! Later, Saku-chan!"_

---------------------------------------

Her daydreaming abruptly stopped when she heard a voice.

"Sakura, get in here," Sasuke called from his office. The girl sighed in disappointment as she heard him. She slowly made her way to his already open door, but not without glancing in through the glass first.

_What the hell? Is he holding a whip? What's he doing to that fern? Since when was there one next to his desk? Oh my god! Is that Kiba?_

She froze for a minute, wondering if he'd yell at her for interrupting his…rendez-vous.

"Sakura! Get the hell in here!"

_Does he want a threesome? I'm so lucky! Wait, no! I hate him. That manwhore!_

"No! Not until you and Kiba stop…doing whatever you're doing!"

"What? Kiba's not in here…I only need him here on Tuesdays. Naruto is here for the rest of the week."

"Oh. So then…you're alone? I'll be right in…"

_Wait a minute. This is my chance. He's alone! I'll have to lay it down on him right now. CHYEAH!_

She proceeded into his office, trying to sway her hips suggestively.

"Do you want a modeling job or something?" Sasuke blinked, noticing her odd movements.

"Oh, do you want me to demonstrate?"

"No," he stated, turning back to the pile of papers on his desk.

Trying to keep her cool, she ignored his remark.

"Did you _need_ me…_sir_?" she pouted, thrusting out her chest as innocently as possible.

"Yes…" he said, not looking up from his work.

"Well, what _can I do _for _you_?" She leaned across his desk, blocking his view of the papers. He looked up in annoyance, but was greeted only by her cleavage.

"Get those away from me." Sakura looked taken aback. _Maybe they don't look big enough…_She decided to thrust her chest a bit farther out.

"Dammit, Sakura! My nose!" The girl blushed furiously as she finally retreated from his desk. "For the love of…get me a tissue," he commanded, trying to hinder a fresh nosebleed.

"Woah, did I miss something?" a voice asked from the doorway. Sakura hastily pulled up the collar of her shirt, and turned to face her 'cousin.'

"Looks like I'm interrupting something important. Should I come back later?"

"Dobe. Out."

"Fine, fine. I'll let you two fool around. Saku-chan…birds and the bees! We'll talk later," he winked and shut the door. A murmur of 'I wonder what Neji's doing…' was heard before the door completely closed.

_Oh my god. This is so awkward. _Sakura didn't dare turn around to face Sasuke again.

"Stay away from the guys," Sasuke stated calmly while writing, his nose not showing any remaining signs of blood.

"...why?"

"That dobe's going to spread rumors all through lunch."

"Oh? And does that bother you?"

"It happens."

"Naruto walks in on you often?"

"He plans it. Cameras are everywhere," he noted dully.

_WHAT! Naruto saw that? _

"Why are you still standing here? Coffee. Now."

Sakura hurriedly rushed out of the room before making her boss even angrier.

_Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! This isn't going very well…_

---------------------------------------

"Neji, you'd never guess what I just saw!" an overly hyper blonde exclaimed as he ran into the Hyuuga's office on the 45th floor, not faltering as he noticed six scantily clothed men in the room with him. "Oh, hey Kiba! At it again I see. Hold on a minute…why wasn't I invited? Oh, it's a Monday…got'cha."

"What did you want?" the Hyuuga asked, trying to get Naruto back on track. Today was definitely not Monday.

"Oh, right. You'll never guess what I just saw!"

"Uchiha getting seduced by a woman?"

"Yes! Wait…how'd you know that?"

"We were all there in the security room."

"Oh…" the young man's face fell a little. _We have a security room? Oh yeah! That's why there are so many monitors in one place. When were they in there?_

"It was brunch break."

"Ah, so it was. Holy crap! Did you just read my mind?" _I really should go back up._

"Oh yes. And now you're thinking about leaving and further engaging yourself in assisting Uchiha."

_Woah. He's good._

"Good idea. I'll leave you boys alone," he smirked as he shut the door.

---------------------------------------

"Well, that was a waste of time," Kiba observed from his seat next to Neji's beloved fern. "Take off your lingerie, Neji-_san_. Oh, I mean 'boxers.' You lost."

_Oh god. _

---------------------------------------  
**Preview for the next chapter:**

"Uchiha-sama? I have a visitor for you!" Sakura smiled as she threw his door open. Sasuke looked up from his paperwork at her, eyebrow raised. The older Uchiha strode in casually.

"Little brother…it's been a while."

Sasuke looked shocked, for lack of better words.


	4. Family Reunion

**Chapter Four: Family Reunion**

**Disclaimer: **We don't own anything but the plot.

**Author's Note: **The next chapter's up. Just a note, after today we will not be updating as frequently, as our classes start tomorrow. But we will try to update at least once a week. Before we give you the chapter, we'd like to thank all of our awesome reviewers: **TearsOfInsanity14, 2supersmart, tiffanylicis, XyoushaX, Riley-Mayori, anon., Animegurl9146, nickygirl, HersheysRocks, shkuro, lilxcutexmonstah, AsukaNaohito, iFo0l, FallenTeenHearts, Kokiiru-kun, MarshmellowBunny. **

And here were some of the questions you all had -

1. From **XyoushaX: **_"Maybe you could explain in-depth why Sasuke doesn't want his company to merge with another. Is it because his company is smaller, and he doesn't want to be seen in the public eye as being 'sucked in' voluntarily, in more ways than one?"_

A short version of why Sasuke won't merge with Haruno and Co.: Uchiha Inc. is a large company, much larger than Haruno and Co., and their business is flourishing. Sasuke views Haruno and Co. as weak because of their current financial situation. He doesn't want to be viewed as sympathetic towards others; furthermore, merging with less fortunate companies may bring his own to a lower level. More on his reasoning will be explained in later chapters.

2. From **iFo0l: **_"just wondering why you would have a weapons company join a male model agency?...wouldnt it make more sense if sakura ran a FEMALE moldeling agency?...no offense but this story makes all the guys seem REALLY REALLY UTTERLY ..G-A-Y!__"_

Well, if it were a female modeling agency, then there would be no need for them to merge because there would probably already be rivalries between them. And if they were doing poorly, nothing would posess Sasuke to bring them into his company at all. If he merged with them, they would simply become a branch of the company and receive financial support from them. It would in no way affect the modeling agency, rather, Sasuke would have power over them. The entire view of their sexuality is completely up to interpretation, keep in mind that they are a very close knit group of friends so anything that they do to each other is platonic. It was written this way simply because Sakura now has another obstacle to overcome. However, if you'd rather them be gay, then go ahead and think that, but we assure you that all of the end pairings will be hetero.

We'd also like to thank you all for** 2,000 hits! **Though we must say we have almost as many reviews as alerts, which makes us feel as if our story isn't worth reviewing. So, remeber to review!

-------------------------------------

"No…forget it…no."

"Uchiha-sama, I have your finished paperwork," Sakura interrupted Sasuke as he was on the phone. He seemed to have not heard her, or he didn't seem to care.

"No Itachi, I will not use you!"

_I will never get used to this…do they all try to talk this way?_

"Whips? Are you kidding me? Chains? Shut up!" Sasuke surprisingly yelled before hanging up rudely.

_That's kinky..._

"What is it?" he said, redirecting his attention to her.

"I've got your paperwork," she said as she handed him the stack of papers.

"Fine. Go down and see to it that everything is finished."

"Could you clarify?"

"Just go down and make sure everyone is working and not playing strip poker."

As she was about to head out, she turned around once more to ask a final question.

"Um, who's Itachi?"

"None of your concern," he replied hastily. "Tell the receptionist to lock the doors."

"Why would the doors need to be locked? Are you expecting him?"

"Yes. Do it now."

"Yes, Uchiha-sama," she rolled her eyes as she made her way to the door.

-------------------------------------

Sakura was in the elevator, making her way down to the first floor. _Why is he always so secretive? I want him to be able to tell me stuff. Wait, did I just think that? No, I don't care about him. This is purely business. _

She shook any further thoughts about the CEO out of her mind as the elevator halted. As she made her way towards the receptionist, she heard a faint whisper. Deciding it was nothing, she continued on her path. This time, she distinctly heard her name; turning, she only spotted a janitor. _I'm losing it. _

"Dammit, Sakura-san!"

_What the hell? Am I being stalked? By a janitor?_

"Er, can I help you?" she asked suspiciously as she slowly made her way to the man with the mop. _Is that a fake moustache? What a weirdo. _

"Sakura-san. It's me." Finally recognizing the voice, Sakura gasped in surprise.

"Naruto? Why are you pretending to be a janitor?"

"...who the hell is Naruto?"

"Should I know you?"

"It's Shikamaru," the man finally told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Wait, what are you doing here? What if someone sees you?"

Shikamaru sometimes wondered about the girl. He gestured at his new ensemble and badly applied moustache.

"I'm here because we need a status report from you. And you don't seem to be too cozy with the CEO yet," he eyed her accusingly.

"I know, I know. I'm trying though, really! He's impossible! Last time I tried, he got a nosebleed."

"Well, that's great. At least you've made some progress."

"No. I don't think you get it. I gave him the nosebleed."

"So what's the problem? That's what you're supposed to be doing."

"Shikamaru! I hit him in the face! With my chest!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "…I bet he enjoyed it, though."

"…you're not helping, you know."

"Well can you tell me anything else? I need to go soon."

"They play strip poker too much. I think they'll all catch colds if they don't wear clothes for more than seven hours a day."

Shikamaru looked as though he were using every ounce of restraint not to roll his eyes.

"You're not being very useful. Have you seduced anyone at all yet?"

"The only guy worth seducing is my 'cousin'! Tell Ino-pig I hate her once you get back."

"Maybe we should have sent her instead. She would have been more direct. I wonder Sakura, do you even care about your company?" He didn't wait for an answer before he disappeared in the janitor's closet.

"Wait! Shikamaru!" Sakura yelled as she threw open the door. She was only met by cleaning supplies and mops. "Shikamaru?" _Those damn spies._

As the reality of what Shikamaru had told her sunk in, Sakura started making her way to the reception desk.

_Send Ino instead of me? Maybe he's right, I really haven't been of use at all. But I can't disappoint my father or anyone else back at Haruno and Co. I can do this! CHYEAH!_

While she was pondering, she didn't notice a tall, dark-haired man standing right in front of her, and proceeded to run right into him.

She swayed backwards for a moment before regaining her composure, and looked up at him. He had blinding red eyes and long black bangs concealing most of his face.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry! Please excuse me," she apologized hastily.

"Do you know where I may find Sasuke?" he asked her in a deep voice.

"Oh, sure. May I ask who you are?"

"…his brother."

After studying him more carefully, she could indeed see the resemblance between the two. _They must have amazing genes; they're both gorgeous. _

"Oh? I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you! I'll take you to his office," she said as she started back towards the elevator. The man followed her lead.

After many awkward minutes of silence passed in the elevator, they reached the 50th floor.

"Uchiha-sama? I have a visitor for you!" Sakura smiled as she threw his door open. Sasuke looked up from his paperwork at her, eyebrow raised. The older Uchiha strode in casually.

"Little brother…it's been a while."

Sasuke looked shocked, for lack of better words.

"Sakura! Dammit! You didn't lock the doors?" he yelled, jumping up from his desk, and knocking over his large executive chair. Sakura stepped back in surprise.

_Maybe it was a mistake to bring him up here…_

"Itachi! Get the fuck out of here!"

_Itachi? That was the man on the phone. Oh shit! He was the one that was supposed to be locked out…_

"But little brother, I was only hoping you'd consider my offer."

"Never. Chains and whips? We're not manwhores." Sakura coughed at that statement. Sasuke spared a glare towards her direction, before staring daggers at his brother once more.

"Well, it seems as though I'm not wanted here," Itachi stated, unnerved. "The offer still stands, little brother, lest you forget."

Sasuke said nothing, but continued staring down his older sibling.

Itachi made his way to Sasuke's desk. He stopped briefly next to the younger Uchiha and leaned down to whisper something in his ear. Sasuke's face showed mild surprise, before reverting back to his normal façade. Itachi smirked as he made his way to the door, paying no attention to a confused Sakura. -1-

"I guess you don't go to many family reunions, huh?"

Sasuke glowered at her as though his eyes were screaming for her to get out.

"That _was_ the family reunion. Don't you have work to do?"

_What is that supposed to mean? Maybe I should just leave. _

"Well, if you want to talk about it, I'm here for you," she tried to sound comforting, adding a small smile for effect.

"Out," he commanded again, though she could see some of the anger leave his eyes.

-------------------------------------

**Preview of Chapter 5: **

"Wait, spring fashion show? But it's only fall!"

"You really know nothing about fashion, do you," Neji smirked. Gaara curtly nodded his head in agreement.

"-as I was saying, spring fashion show. You all will accompany me on Friday to go-"

"Model picking!" Naruto finished cheerily.

-------------------------------------

-1- Just for your amusement, we'd like to hear what _you _think Itachi whispered in Sasuke's ear to make him so uncomfortable. Bear in mind, it won't be anything incestual or sexual. Whoever guesses correctly will get the next chapter PMed to them a full 24 hours earlier than everyone else. Good luck!


	5. For The Moments I Feel Faint

**Chapter Five: For The Moments I Feel Faint**

**Disclaimer: **We don't own Naruto or song titles.

**Author's Note: **Chapter 5! This one's probably the longest chapter thus far, so we really hope you enjoy it. Also...this chapter's pretty interesting. So interpret it however you want. Don't worry, the homosexuality factor starts cooling down a bit after this, we promise!

Unfortunately, none of you got the last "quiz" correct, but you will find out what Itachi said later in the story. A hint though, it was not about Sakura. If you noticed in the story, we wrote that he paid her no attention; but we appreciate all of your guesses! Some were quite intriguing. :)

Thanks so much to: **Kokiiru-kun, Gin-Tono, nickygirl, els1324, sak5584, tiffanylicis, MarshmellowBunny, nira-chan, ohmgeeitscindee, HersheysRocks, sasukeschick, dontconfuseme, Ninja-Sloth, TearsOfInsanity14, RileyMayori, iFool, frienz4ever, kawaiichibisasukeluver, inu-kag101, Animegurl9164, Anonymous, anon., hushhushyou, Melody'sAngel, FallenTeenHearts, lilxcutexmonstah, CherryBlossomUchiha, AztroZombie171, Unknown723. **As always, keep the reviews coming! And thanks for over **3,000 **hits!

------------------------------------

"Sakura, come here," the CEO called her from her usual spot at Naruto's desk. The only difference being that he was actually here this time and she was sitting in his lap.

------------------------------------

Flasback

I'm so tired…_ Sakura thought as she dragged her feet after running up and down various floors, as the elevator wasn't working. She looked up and saw Naruto observing her sympathetically. _

"_Tired, right?" he questioned, setting down his pencil. She nodded, sighing a bit. "You should have just camped here last night like half of the other employees." The joke didn't seem to be helping._

"_Want a seat?" _

"_But, there's only one chair. And I can't take it from you!" she said frantically. Even if she was tired she didn't want to overstay her welcome. _

"_It's okay, you can sit in my lap!" he grinned, moving out his chair. _

Oh. My. God_. She blushed at his offer. _

"_No, really! We're family, right?" _

"_Erm. I…guess…" she hesitantly moved to his desk and sat herself down. _

Wow. He's comfy…though this feels so awkward_. She started shifting uneasily._

"…_Saku-chan? Can you stop moving?"_

"_Huh? Oh, sorry…oh! Um, I'll stop," she smiled nervously._

End flashback

------------------------------------

She was actually happy to hear his voice; things were still a bit awkward at Naruto's desk.

"Naruto-kun, thanks for-" she stopped abruptly and turned towards him, "wait, are you asleep?"

His head was hanging over the edge of the chair and he was snoring slightly. Sakura rolled her eyes as she got up and walked towards Sasuke's office.

"Yes? What do you need, Uchiha-sama?"

"I need you to get Hyuuga, Sabaku, and Lee."

"…who?"

"They're on the 21st floor. Hyuuga is on the 45th. Hurry up."

------------------------------------

"Wake up, dobe," an agitated Sasuke called from his office.

"Sasuke…don't…stop…aww, come on…don't…that way. I love…more…fuck you…back off from…ah, Neji!" -1-

"Dobe! What the hell?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. What?" Naruto yawned as he snapped out of his dream.

"…come here."

"Fine, fine…" he slowly got up and made his way to Sasuke.

_That was such a good dream, too._

"We're scheduled to do a fashion show in two weeks. Your cousin is getting the others. Have you come up with some musical selections?"

"Oh, was that today?" Naruto joked. "Nah, I'm just fooling with ya."

Sasuke looked at him for a minute, not sure how to interpret his statement after his mumbled dream only moments before.

"Yeah, I know a few songs. I'm thinking 'Sexy Back' from that American artist Justin Timberlake. It's hott," he informed Sasuke as he made himself comfortable on his desk.

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it," Sasuke replied, trying to ignore Naruto who had sprawled across his paperwork completely.

"That's okay! I'll sing it for ya." Naruto started making odd noises from the back of his throat. One could only assume he was warming up.

"I'm bringing sexy back…them other fuckers don't know how to act-"

"Dobe! What kind of music do you listen to?"

"Don't interrupt me while I'm singing, teme!" he cleared his throat and began again.

"Come let me make up for the things you lack…cause you're burning up I gotta get it fast."

"Get _what _fast?"

"I'm not quite sure actually. That doesn't matter. Stop interrupting!" _I wonder what it does mean…maybe I can ask Kiba later._

"Dirty babe…you see these shackles, baby I'm your slave. I'll let you whip me if I misbehave-"

A strangled cough was heard from the door.

"…it's just that no one makes me feel this way?" Naruto finished awkwardly, as his head turned toward the door where four pairs of eyes were just staring. _I wish they'd stop doing that. It makes it seem like something was going on._

------------------------------------

"Is this a bad time…again?" Sakura asked, face flushed. _Please tell me nothing was going on. Please tell me nothing was going on. Oh my god. _

"Nah, it's okay. I'm just trying to impress teme here," Naruto said, hastily getting off of the CEO's desk. _Holy shit. No!_

"…apparently…" a chilling voice commented.

"…with my music, Gaara," Naruto defended himself. _Oh thank god…_

"'Sexy Back!' I love that song!" a man with a bowl-cut and sparkling black eyes exclaimed.

"See? Thank you, Lee," Naruto said, throwing a look of triumph in Gaara's direction.

"Enough, we have work to do," Neji said, still staring awkwardly at the blonde.

"Took you long enough," Sasuke commented as he reshuffled his papers.

"Why did you want us here, Uchiha?" Gaara asked, obviously bored.

"You are all aware of the upcoming fashion show, I presume?"

The other men nodded, whereas Sakura raised here eyebrow questioningly.

"Fashion show? What fashion show?"

"Well, Sakura-sama," Lee began, his eyes shining, "this is a modeling agency, therefore it is our duty to supply our youthful gentlemen to various fashion designers. Furthermore, we must decide which of our men are most suited to take part in the fashion show."

"Well said, Lee," Naruto grinned.

"Okay, so we need to go pick out models?" Sakura thought aloud.

"Precisely," Lee replied.

"Now that we all have the arrangements for the spring fashion show underway-" Sasuke was interrupted by Sakura, yet again.

"Wait, spring fashion show? But it's only fall!"

"You really know nothing about fashion, do you," Neji smirked. Gaara curtly nodded his head in agreement.

"-as I was saying, spring fashion show. You all will accompany me on Friday to go-"

"Model picking!" Naruto finished cheerily.

"All of us? Does that include me?" Sakura asked hopefully.

Sasuke studied her for a moment.

"Whatever," he shrugged, picking up his pen.

"Hey, teme, which one of us gets to set the example?"

_Example? What?_

Sasuke set down his pen. "I knew you would ask me that, dobe." Naruto looked at him intently.

Sasuke looked at each man in the room in turn.

"Well, it's been a while since I've actually 'seen' you all. Take off your shirts."

_What the hell? _

Naruto and Lee threw off their shirts, while Neji and Gaara took their sweet time.

_Holy shit. They're so…hott… _

"Hn. Not bad," he said as he got up from his desk.

He first made his way towards Gaara, and paused. "You need a tan."

"…I hate the sun," Gaara replied scathingly.

"Well, the sun hates you too," Sasuke countered as he moved down the line and stopped at Neji.

"At least _you _have a tan," he commented, smirking in Gaara's direction. "Hyuuga, turn around."

"…no."

"Do it."

"I don't want you checking me out. Last time was awkward."

"Do you value your job?" the Uchiha retorted, his patience rapidly declining.

"Fine."

_What's he gonna do? Last time..?_

"Don't you dare slap my ass again. I did the work outs," Neji commanded sharply.

Sasuke moved the Hyuuga's hair and placed the offending locks of hair over his shoulder to get a clear view of his back. To Sakura, this looked like a very intimate gesture.

_There's not something going on with them…is there? Damn, if I have to turn a gay guy straight…ah! What the hell! _

Neji shivered from the cool air hitting his bare back. He suddenly felt something warm on his shoulder blade and jerked away.

"Forget it. I'm not doing this," he exclaimed, making his way over to his shirt and putting it on.

"Suit yourself."

"He's never been too comfortable with teme touching him," Naruto explained to a fidgeting Sakura.

_I wonder why…_

Sasuke swiftly made his way to Lee, looking him up and down.

"Lee, flex," he told him. The black haired man obeyed without a second thought.

"Holy shit, Lee, stop working out," Sasuke remarked, a hint of surprise in his tone. "You're too ripped."

"I recommend pilates," the blonde next to him offered.

He received a 'shut-the-hell-up-before-I-kick-you-out' glare from Sasuke.

"Yes, Uchiha-sama, I will do my best!" Lee saluted.

"…good," Sasuke moved on to his secretary.

"Like what you see, teme?" Naruto asked slyly, running his hand smoothly down his chest.

Sakura was completely flushed at this point.

"What do you think, Sakura?" Sasuke questioned, wanting to embarrass her after seeing her face redden.

"I um-uh…I d-don't think I'm t-the person you should ass-ask! Ask. He's my cousin after all…"

"Come on, Saku-chan, don't you think I'm hott?"

"She's about to pass out," Gaara said coolly, leaning against a wall with his arms folded.

"So she is," Sasuke noted, "well, dobe, Neji doesn't want to do it. You will."

"Awesome!" the blonde cheered as he reached for his shirt.

_I think I need to sit down…_

------------------------------------

-1- "Sasuke, you bastard. Don't take my ramen! Stop, give it back! Aww, come on…don't be that way. I love my ramen more than anything. Fuck you, teme! Back off from my ramen! Ah, Neji! Not you too!" ...just to clear things up. :)

------------------------------------

**Preview of Chapter 6:**

_He looks hotter than usual today…_

------------------------------------

**Author's Note: **Not much of a preview, huh? Sorry about that, but we'll just let your minds ponder over who 'looks hotter than usual today.' With the start of school, we have already started drowning in school work and projects. Not to mention concerts and festivals. We'll try to update as soon as we can. Rest assured, we're not going to abandon this fiction:)


	6. Swing Swing

**Chapter Six: Swing Swing**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the extended delay. :( We've been busy with schoolwork, and other things. We wouldn't have updated this week either, since its Kawaii's birthday and also Ramadan has started for the both of us. But we decided to give you another chapter, since we most likely won't be updating again until Ramadan's over. We'd like to thank all of the reviewers: **Kokiiru-kun, kawaiichibisasukeluver, tiffanylicis, hushhushyou, furryhatlover2543, Jaciie, 2supersmart, summerlover1, AzNAnGeL07, SerenitySilence, mistaken.forLOVE, boo93, nickygirl, Animegurl9164, els1324, WindKunai, P-Prince, HeavenlyBow, Amberley, sasukeschick, frienz4ever, anon., Anonymous, heartlesssoul, Nagia, RileyMayori, luvhateit, **and** lilrockinprincess. **

We'd like to write a side note for one of our reviewers, however:

We accept any constructive comments in your reviews, and we will try our best to incorporate your thoughts in our writing. Keep in mind though, we are writing these stories for fun, not to give us added stress. There may be slight grammatical mistakes, or spelling errors, but we are only human. After each new chapter is complete, we read over our work. Just as you readers become annoyed with repeptative spelling errors, and misuse of punctuation, we, also, become rather agitated. Please do not criticize us on every little mistake we make, _especially_ if it is not repetative or it was meant to be written that way.

To any reviewers who choose to give us comments on our form of writing, remember each author has his or her own style of writing. Our writing style differs from each genre; the light-hearted and funny stories we write do not have as much detail - instead, there is more dialogue. On the other hand, our more serious stories have an abundance of descriptions and less dialogue. If you think our story is too bland, or has too much detail, take one of two routes: deal with it and continue reading, or find a story that appeals to your tastes.

Finally, our personal_ pet peeve_: do not criticize us for bad grammar or spelling mistakes in our story, when in the review, you have made grammar/spelling mistakes yourself. _Practice what you preach_. :)

Thank you all for your kind reviews and yes, Sasuk _is _straight and will end up with Sakura in the end of the fic. :)

-----------------------------------

"Come on, Saku-chan, it's time to go down and see the models," Naruto cheered in Sakura's ear as she was attempting to sleep. Sasuke was waiting by the elevator for the two.

"Okay, Naruto-kun, I'm coming," she said as she slowly got up.

They headed down to the 6th floor where a plethora of models stood in a line outside of a small room. Sasuke led them into the room where there was a desk and three chairs waiting for them.

"Hey, where are the others?" Sakura asked, noticing the absence of Lee, Gaara, and Neji.

"They're making preparations for the show," Sasuke told her as he took his place in the largest of the three chairs.

"Go call for them," he ordered her.

_What? Me?_

She got up and opened the door.

"Er, you can come in now…?" she said hesitantly.

To her relief, only Kiba walked in, shirtless. _He looks hotter than usual today…_

"Kiba, you're in," Sasuke said without even sparing him a glance. Kiba, indifferent to his approval, called in for the next person. Sakura, thankful that Kiba took over her "job", took a seat next to Sasuke.

"Come in!" Kiba yelled at the door. A second model walked in suavely.

_Wow…_

"Sakura, pay attention," Sasuke snapped at the girl. He studied the model for a few seconds before yelling "next!"

_What? He's not in? But he's hott!_

"Next model," Kiba called again.

The third walked in. Before making it in the room completely, Sasuke made his decision. "Next."

"You didn't even give him a chance!" Sakura cried incredulously.

"Too gay," Sasuke stated nonchalantly.

"…you're one to talk…" she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Er, nothing, Uchiha-sama."

Kiba called for the next victim.

_Oh my god, hottest one yet! _

"Hn. Dobe, if you will."

Naruto stood up next to the model and threw off his shirt. Sakura raised her eyebrow in surprise.

"Sakura, this is where you start helping me," the CEO informed her.

"What? What do you want me to do?"

"Compare them."

"Why can't you?"

"It would be rather gay, don't you agree?"

"Then what was that with Neji, Gaara, Lee, and Naruto?"

"…That was business."

"I'm starting to get cold, teme," Naruto said, halting their argument. Sasuke shot him a glare.

"Teme just doesn't want to admit we're his best friends!" Naruto chuckled.

"Shut it, dobe. You," Sasuke said, redirecting his attention to the model standing next to the blonde, "you're in. Okay, I think we're good for-"

"Next model!" Kiba called, disregarding his boss.

"Kiba, I don't need anymore," Sasuke said.

"Oh? Okay," Kiba replied before slamming the door in the new model's face.

"Teme, we only have three!"

"Oh. Never mind. Let him in."

Kiba opened the door again as the now dazed model walked in.

"Are you sober?" Sasuke commented, seeing him sway slightly from the impact of the door. "I can't have drunk models running around the fashion show. Next!"

The model, not exactly hearing properly, had to be escorted out of the room by Naruto.

"You know, it's your fault he's out of it," Sakura informed Sasuke under her breath.

"He should've seen it coming."

Sakura rolled her eyes as Kiba called in another model.

This process continued for about another hour; Sasuke's yells of "next" could be heard throughout the 6th floor, before he got tired of seeing countless shirtless men and the three headed back upstairs.

-----------------------------------

"So we picked 15 models this year," Naruto counted, "hmm…better than last year!"

"Oh? You've softened up, Uchiha-sama," Sakura teased.

"Me? Softened up? Don't flatter me," he said sarcastically as the elevator rose higher.

"How is this fashion show going to work anyway?" Sakura asked as she peered out of the glass wall.

"Well, it's someone else's fashion line, we're just going to give them the 15 models we chose today," Naruto told her.

"Who's fashion line is it?"

"HUKI," the CEO said, checking his watch.

"…that sounds kind of queer…" before she could finish her thoughts on the faggityness of fashion design labels, the elevator jolted. "What was that?" she shrieked clutching Sasuke's arm in a death grip. The victim of her panic attack raised his eyebrows in mild surprise, before resuming his cool façade.

Screeching, obnoxious sirens could be heard from outside their confinement.

"…fire drill," Sasuke stated, staring down the blonde.

"What? Fire drill? What are we, in grade school?" Sakura commented sarcastically.

"Policy. Damn Haruno company," Sasuke remarked. _Oh, right…the smoke detectors… Whoops._

"Dobe, why didn't you tell me there would be a fire drill?"

"Oh…didn't I? Oops," Naruto said, scratching the back of his neck innocently.

"Er, should we get out or something?" Sakura suggested nervously, still clutching Sasuke's arm unintentionally.

"We can't," Sasuke stated.

"What? Why?" she freaked out. _Oh my god, I'm going to die! _

"The elevator's on lock down," Naruto sighed.

"Um…for how long exactly?"

"As soon as everyone evacuates."

"Which is…when?"

"An hour, give or take 30 minutes, if anyone bothered to pay attention to the siren this time."

"An hour?" panic was written all over her face. _Daddy, I can see the light!_

"No big deal," Naruto said, sliding onto the floor casually. This movement caused the elevator to rock momentarily. A shriek was emitted from the pink-haired woman for the second time in the five minute time span. Naruto looked up to find Sakura burying her head into the CEO's chest, much to his surprise.

"Get off," Sasuke ordered impatiently, shoving her off. _Oh shit…oops. _

"Aww, how cute, teme," Naruto snickered, getting wild ideas. His face split into a grin as one came to mind.

Following Naruto's lead, Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto. Unfortunately, the added weight caused the elevator to lean, which in turn caused Sakura to freak out again.

"Ah! Let me out!" Sakura cried, pounding on the elevator door frantically.

"Hitting it won't do anything," Sasuke noted coolly. Knowing there was nothing she could do to get out of the metal prison, she calmed down slightly, and hesitantly sat down across from the two men.

"So, Sakura, you're afraid of heights or something?" Naruto asked her casually.

"…why?"

"We're about 43 floors high."

Sakura peered over the glass wall and saw deserted floors beneath her. Again, she screamed, causing Naruto to laugh hysterically. Even Sasuke smirked at her actions.

"Nothing is going to happen, you can stop your screaming," he informed her.

She bit her lip as she forced herself to calm down. A few minutes of silence passed as the elevator made no further movements. Naruto decided to take this opportunity to cause an uproar.

He looked first at Sasuke, then at Sakura, then back at Sasuke, then back at Sakura.

"Whatever's going through that nonexistent brain of yours, you'd be wise to drop it," Sasuke cautioned. Naruto only grinned.

Suddenly, he jumped in his spot, causing the elevator to shake violently and Sakura to scream louder than ever before throwing herself on her boss.

"Agh!" Sasuke semi-yelled as he now had a 100 lb woman on him, and the extra weight on one side resulted in the elevator tipping even farther in their direction. As the elevator came to a halt, Naruto jumped again.

"DOBE. ENOUGH," Sasuke ordered as the girl screamed into his now deafened ear.

Naruto was laughing hysterically at the sight of his cousin practically breaking his best friend into pieces. A blare from the alarm sounded as the elevator door finally opened. Naruto got up and walked out of the elevator, still laughing to himself.

Sasuke made no move to push the woman off of him; instead, he stared at her, waiting for her to get the hint. She looked up at him, and noticing that his face was way too close for comfort, blushed a fierce shade of crimson. _Well…this is awkward… _

"S-so sorry, Uchiha-sama," she said as she hastily got off of him. To her surprise, he smiled slightly as he let himself up after her.

-----------------------------------

**Preview of chapter seven: **

"Don't tell me you've had enough already," a husky voice breathed from his place on her bed.

Sakura froze at the site of-

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?"


	7. It's Not a Fashion Statement

**Chapter Seven: It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Death Wish**

**Disclaimer Note: **We don't own Naruto, nor do we own Aladdin or any song titles we use.

**Author's Note: **So so so sorry about the extremely long wait, but we've been constantly attacked by school work. We did, however, make this chapter fitting to today's holiday. We wish to thank all of our amazing reviewers, but due to the large number of reviews, it would take us forever to thank you all individually. Please keep the support coming; it motivates us to write and post chapters more quickly!

------------------------------

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeep_

Sakura stirred slightly, ignoring the beep.

_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep_

She opened one eye and checked the time on her frantically beeping alarm.

6:30 AM.

She sighed as she shut it off and began getting off of her bed. As she swung one leg over the side of the bed she felt something restraining her slightly. _What the… _

She tried to move off the bed again and once again got pulled backwards. Getting frustrated, she turned her head to see what the cause of her delay was.

"Don't tell me you've had enough already," a husky voice breathed from his place on her bed.

Sakura froze at the site of-

"Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

"You forget too soon, and I actually let you be on top last time," he said suavely, pulling her closer to him.

Before she got a chance to say anything, she heard her bathroom door swing open.

"Saku-chan, I can't find the shampoo!"

Sakura screamed as she shot up off of her bed, her phone ringing loudly next to her.

_Oh my god. It was just a dream… _

She breathed deeply to calm her speeding heart rate and reached over to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Happy Halloween, forehead!"

"Ino?" she asked as she glanced at her calendar.

"Well, who else? You dressing up today?"

"Er, I wasn't really planning on it…" she swung her leg over the side of the bed and stood up.

"This is the perfect opportunity!"

"What do you mean?" she questioned while making her way to the bathroom to wash her face.

"Well, I'm assuming you haven't been doing a good job of seducing Uchiha."

Sakura raised her eyebrow at the remark, "ha. For your information, Uchiha and I had a moment a few days ago."

"Oh? Please, share."

"Yes, actually. We were in an elevator." Sakura heard Ino gasp into the phone.

"Then what?"

"Um. Well-"

"You fell on him didn't you." It wasn't a question, it was an assumption.

"I'm glad you have faith in me, Ino," Sakura said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I have to go get ready for 'work'."

"Wait! Meet me at that little café we used to go to. I'll bring Shika and Hinata. Oh, by the way, be a geisha! That'll definitely turn him on, if you know what I mean," she laughed before quickly hanging up the phone.

Sakura put down the phone and thought over what Ino had said. _Hmm…a geisha? All I'd need is my old kimono and some makeup… _

She washed her face and made her way to her closet, pulling out an elaborately designed, royal blue kimono. _I don't know about this…_

------------------------------

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN, TEME!" Naruto Uzumaki grinned as he barged into the Uchiha's office, throwing candy into the air.

"…"

"…?"

"…"

Naruto frowned and took a rather large piece of candy out of his plastic pumpkin and proceeded to chuck it at his boss's head. Sasuke all but twitched as he finally looked up at his secretary.

"How come you didn't dress up, teme?"

"Dobe. It's bad enough you took the liberty of redesigning the building. But must you – wait, what the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh, you mean this little thing," Naruto gestured at his attire. "Just something I found in the back of my closet. Isn't it cute?" He twirled, showing off his extremely showy, provocative, low cut, see-through, and _colorful_ Arabian belly-dancing outfit.

"You look like you fell out of a Disney movie," Sasuke commented.

"You're just jealous, teme."

"Why do you even own something like that?"

"…well, you see…cue the music!"

All of a sudden, Rock Lee appeared at Naruto's side, clutching an extremely retro record player. He grinned as he flicked the on switch.

"_Arabian nights_

_Like Arabian days_

_More often than not_

_Are hotter than hot_

_In a lot of good ways…" _

Sasuke groaned. Why did all Disney movies include some kind of sexual innuendo?

"Hey, themed costumes?" Neji asked as he joined the three in the CEO's tiny office.

"Oh, you mean me and Lee? Nah, he's just Aladdin. Let's just say that we have good taste, eh?" Naruto winked.

"Neji, why are you here?" Lee asked, turning his attention towards him.

"Neji? It's me, Kiba!" Kiba gestured at his clothes, fake contacts, and wig.

"…where did you get those clothes?"

"…"

"…?"

"…um, I borrowed them?"

"…From who?"

"…Neji's closet…"

"Does he know you took his clothes?" Lee asked.

"I took more than his clothes…"

"Wait, does that mean your contacts and wig are from his closet too?" Naruto questioned, baffled. Kiba nodded.

"Oh my God! You mean the Neji we thought we know isn't really the guy we know although he thinks that we really don't know who he really is, really?"

"Really." Kiba confirmed.

The four in the room took a minute to ponder the possibilities of Neji's true identity.

"Maybe Neji's just really ugly," Naruto thought aloud.

"Excuse you, Uzumaki, but we all know Sasuke thinks I'm the most appealing," a new voice stated curtly. Lee, Naruto, Kiba whipped around to find Neji standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Neji. Nice costume," Naruto said cheerily.

"…I haven't changed into my costume yet."

"Of course not," Naruto winked. Neji raised his eyebrow but chose not to ask any more questions.

"Moving on to the real reason I'm here. Uchiha, there is a plethora of children in the lobby who simply will not leave me alone."

"OH! THE CHILDREN FROM THE ORPHANAGE ARE HERE!" Naruto grinned as he rushed out of the room.

"…okaaay," Kiba mumbled, drawing Neji's attention to him.

"Uchiha, I did not know you had a mannequin made of me. Stay away from me you obsessive aberration." And with that, he proceeded to walk out the door. Lee and Kiba shrugged as they followed suit, finally leaving Sasuke alone once again.

_Thank God._

Sasuke turned back to his paperwork and was able to work on it in peace for a few hours, not knowing what chaos lay just 49 floors below.

------------------------------

"Hey kids, get off the chandelier! Oh no, Johnny, fish tanks aren't swimming pools!"

Naruto rushed back and forth across the newly decorated lobby, trying to keep the horde of children under control. In his frenetic state, he failed to notice Sakura arrive.

_What's going on here? _

"Er…Naruto-kun?" Sakura tried to ask as he rushed by her, still oblivious.

"Naruto!" she screamed, finally getting his attention. He skid to a halt and turned towards her.

"Oh, hey Saku-chan!" he greeted as he looked up at three children that were now comfortably perched on the large chandelier above them. Looking back down, he noticed Sakura's enthralling outfit. "Wow, Saku-chan, you look amazing! I bet you're trying to seduce our little Sasuke-kun, eh? Oh, we still have to get to that talk about the birdies and the beesies! Considering our underage audience, we'll put that on hold for now." Sakura blushed as she tried to drive the topic of conversation elsewhere.

"Uh…why are there children on the chandelier?"

"I invited the local orphanage to bring some of their younger children for some festive Halloween fun!"

Sakura looked at him in surprise. _That's really…sweet of him!_

"It looks like you may need some help," she offered. The two of them spent a good hour entertaining the children before the head of the orphanage came to pick them up, thanking them enthusiastically.

As the last child waved them goodbye and shut the door, Naruto heaved himself up off of the floor, brushing candy wrappers off of his lap, and gently pulled Sakura up as well.

"Oh crap! Sasuke-sama's going to kill us!" Sakura exclaimed as she checked the time.

"Oh…right," Naruto sighed as he and his "cousin" made their way upstairs.

------------------------------

After hearing one of Sasuke's rants about being punctual and dutiful, the three of them were busy at work. Sasuke continued with his seemingly never-ending pile of paperwork while Naruto answered incoming phone calls, as usual, and Sakura was off doing some unimportant chore for Sasuke.

"So teme, you never did tell me what you're dressed up as," Naruto reminded him through his boss' open door.

"Work."

"Ahh, not telling, eh? Don't worry, I'll figure it out by the time we leave today."

Sasuke swatted away a bat that was tied with string to his ceiling and continued writing.

"By the way, have you seen Sakura's outfit yet?" Naruto asked, smirking.

Sasuke didn't say anything, but for an unkown reason felt his face grow slightly warm. Naruto peered in through the window and grinned at Sasuke's flushed state. Or at least the closest thing to embarassed Naruto had ever seen him. Sasuke glared up at him and wordlessly commanded him to get back to work.

A few minutes later Sakura reappeared from her task, empty handed. "They don't have any coffee today, Uchiha-sama."

"What?"

"Since it's Halloween they're trying not to give out more sugar than they have to."

"…they're giving out candy on every floor," Sasuke noted, glancing at Naruto's overflowing pumpkin.

"…what kind of system are you running here?" Sakura rolled her eyes at the stupidity of the majority of the employees here, in turn receiving a glare from the CEO.

"Uchiha," a voice called from behind Sakura. She turned around to find Gaara standing there.

"Nice costume, Gaara-kun," she complimented his elaborate pirate outfit. _Hottie!_ Gaara glanced at her, aka his way of showing that he heard her.

"What do you need?" Sasuke asked him.

"I think he wants to shiver your timbers, teme!"

_Oh God…bad pirate jokes…_

"Kiba has my gun. And Neji wouldn't let me use his sword."

"…what?"

Kiba could be heard making obnoxious noises ("BANG BANG") in the approaching elevator. Gaara rolled his eyes as Kiba rushed in next to him.

"Haha, Gaara, I have your toy gun!" Kiba laughed, mostly to himself.

"…I don't own toys." Every head on the 50th floor snapped toward the weapon, which was promptly chucked into the air by a startled Kiba. As it hit the floor a shot fired and before anyone knew what was going on there was a lovely little hole in the Uchiha's desk. Sasuke looked as though the pencil he was holding was about to snap in two, but before he could say anything Neji and Lee had rushed upstairs.

"What was that bombastic noise that disrupted the youthful silence of these 50 floors?" a flustered Lee questioned between short breaths.

"Gaara's gun," a newly clad Neji stated, pointing his sword accusingly at Gaara's neck.

"Woah, sweet costume, Neji!" Naruto grinned, completely ignoring the previous disturbance. Neji smirked, obviously pleased with his samurai outfit.

"Hm, Sasuke, what are _you _dressed as?" Kiba asked, causing everyone to turn towards the object in question.

"Why are you all in here?"

"Answer the question, teme!"

"I have work to do."

"Oh, I believe I know! He is obviously the CEO of an impressive organization!"

Sasuke stared, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Yeah, Lee, you're right!"

"He DOES look professional, doesn't he?"

"That suit really does the trick."

He glanced down at his outfit.

"Uchiha-sama, I have never seen this side of you."

"You'd get so many more women if you dressed like that all the time!"

Sasuke glared at Naruto, fed up with his employees' obliviousness.

"You fools, I'm not wearing a costume."

A dead silence filled the room.

"Oh. Yeah, we knew that…" everyone in the room mumbled sheepishly.

"Who wants to scare little children now?" Naruto suggested, noticing the diminishing sunlight.

"Sounds good."

"Finally, something worth my time."

"Let's ignite their youthful fire of fear!"

"Hot damn!"

The five immature men strolled out of the office discussing tactics for making little children wet their pants.

"…that's not very nice," Sakura said to herself as she reluctantly followed, leaving Sasuke alone in his office.

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the closed door, before going into full destructive mode of anything Halloween residing in his office.

------------------------------

**Author's Note: **Once again, sorry for the delay! And we're even more sorry that we can't give you a preview for chapter 8...considering we haven't written it yet... In any case, we appreciate any reviews and hope you all have a happy and safe Halloween!


	8. You Look Like I Need Another Drink

**Chapter Eight: You Look Like I Need Another Drink**

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing. The end.

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long wait, again. But we're giving you an extra, extra, extra, long chapter, so that's our way of making up for the wait. We were originally going to post on Sunday, but as most of you probably know, fanfiction was not letting writers upload documents. Thank you so much for all of your reviews, you guys really keep us motivated! Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter as much as we do!

---------------------------------------

"Sasuke-san, is it possible for me to skip the lunch you have scheduled on Thursday?" Sakura asked, showing herself into her boss' office. Sasuke looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"Erm, I have another engagement to attend to, if that's alright."

"More important than my lunch?"

_Yes._

"Do you really want to know?" Sakura asked skeptically.

"Enlighten me."

"Well…I think this lunch you set up is just a lame way to get us to work on a national holiday." She placed her hands on her hips in mock annoyance, receiving the closest thing to a laugh from Sasuke. _Was that a smile? _

"What if I said that you had to come?"

"In that case…I'd just have to ignore you."

"Fine, you can take off this once." Sasuke said, giving off the feel of indifference. She thanked him and went back to doing her work, leaving him alone with his paperwork once more.

---------------------------------------

Thursday came soon enough, and Sakura remembered her promise to Ino a few weeks earlier. They had set up a day to meet during lunch at a little café she, Ino, Shikamaru, and Hinata used to dine in regularly and discuss business issues. Sakura grabbed her purse and headed off.

A few minutes in a taxi cab later she found herself standing in front of the Ichiraku Café, and heard a familiar voice.

"Forehead, over here!" Sakura's highly enthusiastic secretary called frantically with her hands up in the air waving at her boss from a cozy little booth near the back of the restaurant. Shikamaru's hair could be seen over the seats. Sakura grinned to herself and made her way over to her old friends. _It's so good to see them all again!_

"Hey guys, long time no see!" She took a seat next to Shikamaru. "So, who's paying?"

The others shifted nervously, knowing how much Sakura could eat in a short period of time. She glanced over at Shikamaru with an air of innocence filling her eyes. He narrowed his eyes back at her, and instead turned to Ino.

"Don't look at me, I'm broke!"

Hinata sighed, "I suppose I could pay." Noticing their protesting faces she added, "No, really I don't mind. Besides, my cousin left some money on the banister." At this, everyone began laughing.

"So, Ino, you called me for a meeting?" Sakura asked, questioning the obvious.

"Yeah, we need to discuss this whole 'Uchiha-Inc.' thing. You've been undercover there for how long now?"

Sakura mentally recounted her infiltration of the company. "About four months I'm pretty sure."

"Great, and how's the seducing going?" Shikamaru smirked, remembering his last encounter with the pink-haired girl.

"It's…getting there…sort of. Hehe…" Sakura blushed slightly. Ino simply rolled her eyes.

"You're such a bad whore. You realize your dad has started letting people go. Think about it, people are homeless because of you," she said accusingly. Before Sakura got the chance to reply, a waitress came over to take their orders. They quickly ordered their meals and went back to discussing business. Amidst their squabbling, they didn't notice four very attractive individuals walk in.

---------------------------------------

"Teme, I want to sit at a booth!"

"Stop your excessive whining."

"Please, oh please, Neji! It's so cute and cozy in there. The atmosphere is just like home!" Naruto exclaimed, all but jumping up and down.

"Fine," Sasuke grunted, not wanting to draw any more attention to them.

"Oh, look! There by the back wall. Last one there has to pay!" Kiba grinned.

"No," Neji replied, grabbing his ear and dragging him to the booth.

"Dobe, why did you invite Kiba?"

"I thought you did…" Naruto questioned. They both looked at Kiba for a moment and sighed. Not wanting to waste brain cells pondering over Kiba's presence, the two men followed an agitated Neji to their booth. Sasuke took a seat next to Neji, whilst Naruto took a seat across from him beside Kiba.

As soon as they sat down a very giddy waitress was ready to take their orders.

"Just coffee," Sasuke said, ordering for the four of them.

"Right away sirs," the girl replied with a wink before walking off.

"So, teme, what did you want us here for?" Naruto said as he mindlessly played with his fork.

"Oh, no reason in particular." The other three turned to him strangely.

"Sasuke, how dare you! I took time out of my busy schedule for this!" Kiba cried, obviously distressed.

"Kiba, you weren't invited," Neji pointed out.

"Oh. Right."

"Since we're here we might as well discuss the upcoming fashion show," Naruto decided, getting strange looks of 'I can't believe you have such plausible ideas' from the rest of the group.

"Well, I was thinking about wearing my black banana hammock instead of the white one…what do you guys think?" Kiba asked indifferently, causing Naruto to smack his forehead. He began again, "I was thinking more along the lines of-"

"Kiba, enough," Sasuke commanded, but before he could continue, the giddy waitress reappeared.

"So, like, are you sure you only want coffee? I could like, totally go back and bring you something else, if you want," she said in an extremely high pitched voice.

The four men looked up at her oddly. At the sight of four gorgeous men looking up at her, the waitress blushed a fierce shade of crimson and began babbling once more.

"We have this totally awesome menu, should I bring it over?"

Naruto glanced at Kiba and grinned. He then stood up and put an arm around the waitress.

"Listen, (Naruto glanced down at her nametag) Flo, we really appreciate your services, but we only really want some coffee. Well…" his voice trailed off into a mock sigh.

"Oh, what? What?" Flo asked in excitement.

"We'd really love some sushi. But you see, we only eat at Teuchi's sushi bar, and that's a good hour's drive from here…"

"Oh, don't worry about it; I can totally go pick some up for you!"

"Are you sure? I don't want to cause you so much trouble..." Naruto cast his eyes to the floor in mock embarrassment, causing the girl to shriek. Kiba started snickering, but received a kick from Neji.

"Not at all!" the girl said in hushed tones, "I'll leave like right away!"

And with that, she was gone. Naruto triumphantly sat back down. "So anyway, what were we saying?"

"…what is Teuchi's sushi bar?" Neji asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I have no idea."

Kiba cracked up.

---------------------------------------

"Sakura, you really have to get it going with this guy," Ino sighed, sipping her coffee. "I don't want you to freak out over this, but you need to pick up the pace."

"I know, I know…but-"

"Just be yourself, Sakura-san. If he can't accept you for who you are, then we might as well start thinking of a new plan."

_A new plan? But that's the easy way out…and I've come too far to back down now…_

"No. I can do this! I can't let you guys down…I can't let myself down…"

"That…was-" Shikamaru began.

"Beautiful? I know," Sakura smiled triumphantly.

"I was going to say really pathetic, but we can go with beautiful if it'll make you feel better about yourself."

"Shika, could you for once at least pretend you feel human emotions?" Ino rolled her eyes as she finished off the rest of her coffee.

"Oh, sure Ino. Let's see…I feel really bored right now. I feel like you can't plan business meetings to save your life. And I feel like I could be doing something so much more useful with my life right-OW." Ino glared at him. "I mean, I love spending my time with you."

"That's what I thought. Hey, wait a minute…do you hear that?" Ino leaned forward, trying to catch more of the conversation coming from the next booth.

---------------------------------------

"So like I was saying, Sasuke, Trident works so much better than Colgate, and it could really help that plaque problem of yours!"

"…dobe, shut up."

"No, I'm serious! You could have pearly whites in just five to ten days," Naruto finished off with a grin.

"Hey, Naruto does have a point, just look at his teeth!"

"Can we please stop this mindless conversation?" Neji sighed in annoyance, rapidly losing his already diminishing patience.

"Fine, fine. You guys are so boring…say, where's Saku-chan?"

"She took today off," Sasuke informed him.

"Aw. I bet you're disappointed, Sasuke," Naruto snickered. Suddenly a blonde head sitting in the booth across from them caught his eye. He raised himself off the seat to get a better glimpse of the blonde mass.

"What the…"

---------------------------------------

"Oh my god! I think that's Uzumaki!" Ino gasped as she quickly plunged back to her seat. Sakura all but choked on her food.

"Wait, what?"

"It's your 'cousin!' Uzumaki! He's sitting in the next booth! And I'm pretty sure he saw me."

"But that means…he's here with Sasuke!"

---------------------------------------

"Yes?" Sasuke glanced at Neji.

"Yes what? I didn't say anything," Neji replied in confusion.

"I could have sworn I heard-wait, there it is again."

"It's the Haruno secretary! She's probably bad mouthing us. Well, if she wants to play that way…" Naruto cleared his throat and began talking just loud enough for the other booth to hear. "That damn Haruno company. Isn't it pathetic how they're groveling at our feet for money?"

"Dobe, what are you doing?" Sasuke questioned, but was only ignored.

"They'd have better luck sending one of their spies over here to infiltrate our building! Ha!"

Sasuke suddenly began thinking. "What if…no, they're not that smart."

"That's the spirit, teme!" Naruto cheered.

---------------------------------------

"WHAT A JERK!" Ino cried, hearing Naruto's insults. "Well, two can play at that game!"

"Ino, don't!" Sakura urged her. But it was too late.

"OH, HINATA, DID YOU HEAR? ALL THE GUYS OVER AT UCHIHA INC ARE **GAY.**"

Suddenly, all heads in the restaurant turned towards the table of men, who promptly shifted away from each other.

"What? Neji-nii-san is gay?" Hinata gasped. Sakura smacked her forehead and groaned.

"REALLY, HASN'T ANYONE WONDERED WHY IT'S AN **ALL MALE** MODELING AGENCY?"

"Ino, you're so troublesome. Keep your voice down!"

---------------------------------------

"Teme, she has a point. Why is it all male?" Naruto asked the CEO.

"What? Hinata's here?" Neji questioned, peering over the seat. He was forced to duck, however, when a loaf of bread suddenly flew through the air, hitting Kiba square in the face, knocking him out.

"WHAT THE- BREAD? OH HO HO HO, IT'S ON. WAITER, GET ME AN ORDER OF RIBS! STAT!" Naruto shrieked.

"They'll take some time to cook…" a random waiter informed him.

"THAT'S OKAY, WE'LL JUST TAKE THEIRS." Naruto reached behind him and grabbed a plate of ribs from a poor defenseless family trying to enjoy a nice meal. Naruto then began chucking the ribs as hard as he could at Ino.

---------------------------------------

"AH! HE RIBBED ME!" Ino cried as she threw off a piece of meat that had landed in her hair.

"That is so gross…" Sakura scrunched her nose in disgust.

"SHIKAMARU, ARE YOU DONE WITH YOUR PASTA? NO? I DON'T CARE." She grabbed the plate and began throwing handfuls of pasta over their heads.

---------------------------------------

"What the…" Sasuke practically yelled as spaghetti dripped off the top of his head. "That's it. We're going back to the office." He pulled out a cell phone, "let me just call Sakura and tell her to meet us there."

"Where's Hinata?" Neji asked, still looking for her.

"I NEED MORE RIBS!"

---------------------------------------

A sudden cell phone ringing took Sakura by surprise. She glanced at the caller ID: Sasuke Uchiha.

"Oh my god, what do I do? What do I do?" She whispered frantically.

"…answer it?" Shikamaru suggested.

"BUT IT'S SASUKE!"

---------------------------------------

"Hyuuga, what is it?" Sasuke said, hearing his name for the second time.

"I didn't say anything, Uchiha. You should get your hearing checked."

---------------------------------------

"Uh…Sakura, under the table!"

"What?" Before she could say anything else, Shikamaru had grabbed her arm and pulled her underneath their table.

"Shika, what?"

"You need to get out of here, ASAP."

The phone continued ringing.

"Answer that first."

Sakura eyed the phone in her hand and hesitantly flipped it open.

"…Hello?"

"We're going back." She heard her boss on the other line.

"Who is 'we' and where is 'we' going back to?"

"You have horrible grammar. Neji, Naruto, Kiba, and I are going back to the office. I expect you to be there upon our arrival."

Sakura covered the mouth piece. "They're leaving! And they expect me to be there before they get there!"

"Stall while I think of a plan," Shikamaru replied before going into deep thought.

"Well, you can't always get what you want," Sakura spoke into the cell phone.

"What was that?"

"Umm…I was singing. It's such a great song. I can bring in the CD next-"

"I don't care. If I don't see you there-"

"You'll what? Spank me?" Sakura interrupted.

Shikamaru sighed in annoyance from his place on the floor next to Sakura. "Way to try talking dirty to him over the phone **right now**…"

"Sakura, are you drunk?" a slightly taken aback Sasuke questioned.

"I got it!" Shikamaru yelled.

"Who was that?"

"Um...my grandmother playing scrabble. Anyways, I have to go now if you want me to make it back to the office in time, Uchiha-sama. Bye!"

She quickly hung up before the CEO could respond and put her phone back into her purse.

"So what's your plan Shika? I need to get out of here!"

"Right. Okay, we need a distraction." Suddenly Shikamaru disappeared from under the table. "Hinata-san, could you please go over to your cousin's booth and distract them?"

"Er, I can try…"

---------------------------------------

"Hello Neji-nii-san. W-what a n-nice surprise." The three males turned to look at their latest guest.

"I finally found you!" Neji said uncharacteristically. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Hey, you're pretty," Naruto commented, forgetting all about the spaghetti being chucked at Sasuke. Hinata turned to look at him and began blushing like mad.

"Back off, loser."

"Make me white-eyes!"

"Maybe I will."

"Maybe you won't."

"Maybe I won't."

"Maybe you will," Naruto continued. "Wait, I meant that you won't."

"You are hardly a challenge to wile."

During their bickering, a blushing Hinata motioned to Sakura to make her exit. After Sakura had fully made her way out of the restaurant, she turned back to the men.

"W-well, it was l-l-ovely s-s-s-seeing you all again. O-oh, and N-Neji-nii-san, t-thank you for the m-money." With that, she turned around and went back to her table with Shikamaru and Ino.

"We're leaving." Sasuke commanded, standing up.

"What about Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"…leave him," Sasuke began walking to the door, the other two following.

"So that's where my money went…" Neji thought aloud glancing towards a retreating Hinata, Ino, and Shikamaru as they made their way out the back door.

---------------------------------------

"Hey guys, I like totally got your sushi!" Flo cried as she barged into the café, looking around for the men. She walked up to the table where they were formally sitting; now, the only one left was a still unconscious Kiba. After setting the bag of sushi down, she gently prodded him awake.

"Humfn. Waz goin on? Wha time izit?" Kiba asked groggily.

"Time for me to write down my number, hot stuff!" Flo giggled madly as she pulled out a pad of paper, a pen, and some handcuffs.

Kiba, regaining his senses, finally realized what was going on.

And then he ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, screeching sweet nothings about oppressive bread, ditsy stalkers, and rape.

"Dammit!" Flo cried as she watched him running, "I scared off another one!"

---------------------------------------  
**Preview of Chapter 9:**

"Naruto, I have a confession..."

---------------------------------------

**Author's Note: **That's all you get :) Many secrets will be revealed. Let the drama begin.


	9. Things Like Chemistry

**Chapter Nine: Chap Stick, Chapped Lips, and Things Like Chemistry**

**Disclaimer: **We don't own anything except the plot.

**Author's Note: **So here is the long-awaited chapter nine. Be warned: fluff alert! Akuhei and I don't know when we'll be able to update again, probably not for a while as exams are coming close, but we have a few good ideas for the next chapter. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one in the meantime. Also, we'd like to thank all of you amazing people for your reviews; they were a pleasure to read!

-----------------------------------------

"Welcome, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun! It's been a while!"

"Yeah it has, Iruka! How've you been?" Naruto grinned and warmly hugged the dark haired man who had greeted them before barging backstage. "Oooh, crew doughnuts…"

"Dobe, refrain yourself," Sasuke warned as he followed in after him. He nodded at Iruka as his way of greeting the other man. Sakura came in slowly behind, glancing at all the props and scattered pieces of clothing littering their surrounding. They were inside the headquarters of HUKI, one of Sasuke's biggest allies in the modeling business. Today was a very important day for both companies, however, due to the Spring Wedding Fashion Show to take place later that night. Sasuke had told his models to come by a few hours before the fashion show; since it was morning, only he, Naruto, Sakura, and Kiba (for reasons unknown to anyone) came. Iruka, used to only seeing Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba, noticed the girl's foreign presence immediately.

"Oh, you must be Sakura!" He smiled and warmly held out his hand for her to shake. She looked up at him in surprise.

"Oh, yes I am! Nice to meet you, Iruka-sama," Sakura smiled politely, "How do you know me, may I ask?"

"Naruto and Sasuke have told me all about you. If you would follow me please…" Sakura glanced in Sasuke's direction, but he quickly turned away from her gaze. _He told Iruka all about me? _

"Yo. Sorry I'm late," a rather tall, silver-haired man with a mask concealing most of his strikingly handsome face apologized as he appeared behind the group.

"Kakashi, you're always late. There's no point in apologizing," Naruto rolled his eyes as he helped himself to another doughnut.

"Hn."

"Oh, and who is this cute young lady?"

"Back off you horny perve."

"Kiba, I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, whatever. Back off from Sasuke's woman."

"I'm not his woman." _Unfortunately._

"She's not my woman." _Dammit, why did he agree? _

"It's called denial, children," Naruto cooed.

Sasuke and Sakura both turned away in defiance.

"Tight schedule. Time to get back on task," Iruka reminded them as he picked up an extremely obnoxious colored bowtie and tossed it at Kiba.

-----------------------------------------

After a good two hours of cleaning, running around, and eating doughnuts, everyone was almost ready for the fashion show. Sasuke's other models had shown up and were busily getting dressed as the female models from a different company did the same.

"You know why I love HUKI, Sakura?" Naruto asked the girl as she helped him with his tie. She looked up at him.

"Why?"

"They have the sweetest dressing rooms ever."

"Who cares? You're not even using them," Sakura rolled her eyes as she remembered Naruto's earlier decision of stripping down to his boxers and changing in front of everyone.

"Yeah, well I can't help if people want to look at me. If you know what I mean." He grinned at her, causing her to laugh. _He _does _look cute, especially in this tux. I can't wait to see the rest of guys._

No sooner had she thought about Kiba and Sasuke that they appeared behind her, dressed in their formal wedding attire. Kiba straightened his tie and undid a few buttons of his shirt as Sasuke looked at himself in the mirror, looking possibly more gorgeous than usual.

_Stop staring, retard! _

"Hey, teme, lookin' good," Naruto winked at his boss who simply raised an eyebrow back at him, then turned his attention to Kiba.

"Kiba, stop undressing," the CEO commanded. _Why?!_

"But Sasuke, it's so hot in here! Or is that just me?" Kiba laughed, mostly to himself. Before either Kiba or Naruto could continue wasting time with awful comebacks, Iruka and Kakshi intervened.

"Okay 'kids', time for the fashion show. Kiba, what are you doing? Unbutton your shirt a bit more, the ladies like that."

"Come on Kiba, I'll help you with that!" Naruto said as he dragged an unsuspecting Kiba along.

_Why would he need to help him undress? Oh, how fruity. _

"Sasuke, are you ready?" Kakashi asked, redirecting his attention.

"Hn."

"Kakashi-sama, do you need assistance?" Sakura asked while observing her chaotic surroundings.

"I suppose you could go check up on any of the female models zipping up or whatever it is you people do."

Sakura nodded and walked off.

-----------------------------------------

_Behind the Scenes_

"Hey, Kiba, come here," Naruto whispered as soon as they were out of earshot from Sasuke, Kakashi, Iruka, and Sakura.

"What, why? I thought you were going to help me undress?" Kiba asked, grabbing his collar.

"Kiba. Are you kidding me? I was kidding," Naruto raised an eyebrow awkwardly.

"Oh. Then what?"

"I have an idea…" Naruto began, leaning down towards Kiba ear unnecessarily. "You know how Sasuke totally digs Sakura?"

"…no?"

Naruto smacked his forehead.

"Okay, so maybe he doesn't. But this is our chance to test the waters a little."

"I can't swim, I have a skin disorder."

"KIBA. Would you at least you pretend to understand my analogies?"

"Fine, fine. What are you planning on doing?"

"Well this is a spring fashion show right?" Naruto asked, subtly pulling Kiba into a dressing room away from any wandering ears.

"Yeah, so?"

"So that means there'll be lots of girls in wedding dresses!"

"Okay…so?"

"So…we need to get Sakura to wear one. That way Sasuke can see her and he'll subconsciously feel the urge to commit himself into a relationship-"

"Okay that's a bunch of bullshit. There's only one thing that'll be urged on and we all know what that is-"

"Kiba you're so perverted," Naruto rolled his eyes as he gently shut the door behind him.

"Oh? I'M perverted? You're the one locking the two of us into an uncomfortably small dressing room."

"It's so no one can hear us, okay? So anyway. We need to get Sakura into one of those dresses somehow…are you going to help me?"

Kiba sighed. "Fine, I'll help. But where are we going to find a model willing to give us her dress?"

No sooner had Kiba spoken that a tall, skinny model in a gorgeous, silky, off the shoulder HUKI original walked in on the two.

"Am I interrupting?" She asked awkwardly, ready to run out at any moment.

"Oh of course not," Naruto smiled and gently pulled her into the room while motioning Kiba to creep up behind the model. "Now if you could do me a favor…"

"…what?" the model asked.

"Close your eyes and count to five," he grinned and looked as adorable as possible. The girl acquiesced, overcome by his charm. As soon as she shut her eyes, Naruto glanced up at Kiba and made a very violent gesture with his fist. Kiba scanned the room quickly and picked up a broken hanger.

"1…2…3-"

"Err, why don't we add some Mississippi's in there? Better yet, why don't you spell it!"

"Misipi?"

"Not quite. Keep on trying," Naruto urged as Kiba hurriedly looked for an object that would be able to knock the model out. Deciding he could find nothing, he balled his fingers into a fist and bashed it against the poor model's head, knocking her to the floor.

"Great. Now what?" Kiba asked as they both looked at the "dead" girl.

"Uhm…I think we have to get that dress off of her…"

"…sweet!"

-----------------------------------------

_Where are those two? It's almost time for the fashion show… _Sakura checked her watch as Sasuke walked up to her and took a seat near her on the sofa she was reclining on. She glanced up at him and gave him a small smile. Before either of the two could say anything to each other, Neji, Gaara, and Lee strode up to them.

"Uchiha," Neji started, looking down at his boss.

"You finally showed up," Sasuke noted, glancing at all three in turn. "Hyuuga, go get changed. Why are Gaara and Lee here?"

"We had nothing to do. And I want to see how the show goes," Gaara answered.

"May we have the pleasure of sitting with you while waiting for the show to begin?" Lee asked, not noticing how cramped the sofa already was without them.

"Well, there isn't-" Sakura began.

"Thanks, Sakura-san!" Lee exclaimed as he plopped himself rather ungracefully next to her, unintentionally forcing her closer to the CEO. Sasuke glanced at her for a moment before turning his attention back to Neji.

Neji nodded at Sasuke as he left to get ready, and Gaara sat himself down next to his assistant, causing Sakura's hand to brush against Sasuke's, in turn causing Sakura to blush slightly. Lee and Gaara then struck up a conversation about marketing, leaving Sasuke and Sakura to amuse themselves.

"So, er, Sasuke-sama, how have you been lately?" Sakura asked in an effort not to sound stupid, but failed anyway.

"…"

"…? It's just a question…" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"What do you want me to say?" Sasuke smirked, turning to face her.

"Well…" Sakura started, but broke off. _Why is he staring at me like that? _

"Well?"

_Is he teasing me? _

"Oh don't be silly, Sasuke-sama, it was just a question. The least you could do is answer it before asking _me _one." Sakura teased in response. Sasuke smirked again.

"Fine."

"Okay…so…answer the question."

"I did. You asked me how I've been doing. I said 'fine.' What more do you want?"

_Now he's just being annoying. _

"You are so difficult, Sasuke-sama," Sakura sighed as she jokingly hit him on the arm.

"Don't call me that," Sasuke said abruptly, causing Sakura to halt.

_What? Difficult? _

Noticing her confusion, Sasuke clarified, "Sasuke-sama. Don't call me that."

Sakura was still confused. "Well then, what do you want me to call you?"

"Sasuke."

"But you're-"

"Are friends usually that polite?" Sasuke asked before turning to observe what else was going on in their presence, leaving a surprised Sakura still watching him. She too, turned away, but not before a smile escaped her lips. Suddenly Naruto and Kiba rushed up to the two of them, breathless.

"Sakura, Sakura!" Kiba chanted.

"There's a problem, teme," Naruto cut in. "One of the female models is…missing. Iruka requested Sakura to fill in."

"M-me?"

"Which raiment?" Sasuke asked, completely composed.

"Uh…say what?" Kiba questioned.

"The final strut…the one with you," Naruto continued dramatically, ignoring Kiba. A hint of surprise seemed to come to the Uchiha's eyes at Naruto's words, but quickly reverted to his calm demeanor.

"Do you have the dress?" Sasuke continued. Naruto glanced at Kiba, who quickly ran off and retrieved the dress and shoes. Sakura gasped slightly at the sight of the gorgeous dress. _I'd wear that in a heartbeat! And with Sasuke…wait, what am I thinking? _Suddenly she noticed all three men watching her closely.

"Go get changed," Sasuke commanded as he stood up.

"What?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Fashion show starts in ten minutes. Go get changed," Sasuke repeated, holding his hand out to help her up. She took it, still surprised, and took the dress from Kiba.

-----------------------------------------

"Naruto, I have a confession to make…" Sakura said in hushed tones as Naruto and his partner returned from the runway.

"What is it?"

"…I can't walk in heels…"

"…you know you're up after this next couple comes back?"

"Don't say couple. And I know I'm up soon. Where's Sasuke anyway?" she asked as she held on to the wall, stopping herself from tripping.

"I'm here. And we're up," Sasuke quickly slipped his arm through Sakura's and hurriedly guided her onto the runway.

_Oh my God, I'm going to fall! _

Sakura nervously glanced at Sasuke, who walked with complete ease.

_Damn boys and their flats. But we're halfway down the runway…so far so good…_

Sakura smiled, feigning confidence. But as she took a next step forward she felt her heel get caught on the hem of her dress, and started falling forward. _Oh shit. _

As she bit her lip and braced herself for hitting the floor, she felt a strong arm catch her and swing her around into a dip. She gasped as the crowd clapped, believing it was all an act.

Sasuke leaned towards her suavely. "Can you walk?" he whispered.

"It…hurts a bit," she winced. Sasuke all but rolled his eyes as he gently but securely picked up the girl bridal-style to carry her the rest of the way. Dumbstruck, Sakura held on to his neck in fear of falling and gingerly allowed herself to lean against his chest.

"Too tight," Sasuke muttered quickly as they turned the corner.

"Oh! Sorry!" Sakura hurriedly replied as she loosened her grip.

As they went backstage and the curtain fell behind them, Sasuke gently placed Sakura onto a sofa.

"Naruto, get some ice," he commanded as he straightened his coat and began to leave.

"Hey, Sasuke?" Sakura called, not wanting him to leave. He turned back around.

"What?"

"…thanks," she said, smiling slightly.

"Hn," he replied, before turning around to hide a smirk as he went off to consult with Kakashi and Iruka about the show.

-----------------------------------------

Off in the distance, Naruto and Kiba turned to face each other. Grinning broadly, they quickly looked around before high-fiving each other and walked off in different directions as if nothing ever happened.

-----------------------------------------

**Preview of Chapter Ten: **

"...let's split up."

-----------------------------------------

**Author's Note: **There it is! Don't forget to review, we love reading them:)


	10. Must Have Done Something Right

**Chapter Ten: Must Have Done Something Right**

**Disclaimer: **We own nothing except for the plot.

**Author's Note: **We apologize immensely for the inexcusably long delay! We were distracted by schoolwork until June, and then we each went on vacation so we hardly had a chance to meet until recently. There were also other complications regarding various illnesses that hindered the writing process. In any case, we sincerely hope you can forgive us and that you enjoy this chapter!

-------------------------------------------------

"Teme!" Naruto called, stepping into his boss' office. He was ignored completely by Sasuke, who sat at his desk flipping idly through the spring wedding edition of HUKI magazine. _Gaara really does need a tan, he looks so pale in his black suit. Neji looks becoming, but that's to be expected. _

"Teme! Teme, teme, teme!" Naruto chanted annoyingly.

_Sakura looks rather elegant in that dress…I must tell Iruka to have more made like that. _

"TEME, TEME, TEME, TEME, TE-"

"What. Is. It?" Sasuke finally replied, fed up with Naruto's persistency.

"I'm bored, teme," Naruto sighed, allowing himself room on his boss' desk.

Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment in order to keep his composure.

Not waiting for a reply, the blonde continued, "Sakura's on her lunch break and Kiba's sick today so I have nothing to do."

"How about your job?" Sasuke retorted.

"You know that's never a priority," Naruto said, waving his hand as though throwing the very idea aside.

"There's no one you can complain to other than me?"

Naruto ignored his boss' question and continued.

"I thought you and I could have a nice chat, seeing as you're always caught up in work."

Sasuke knew nothing good would come of this conversation.

"So tell me. You think Sakura looked pretty hot in that wedding dress, right? I mean I bet you couldn't stop staring at that shot in HUKI mag-"

There was a loud clanking noise before Naruto hurried out of the room, rubbing his already bruising forehead frantically. Sasuke swiftly picked up his stapler off the floor and placed it back on his desk.

-------------------------------------------------

Sakura pressed the "up" button on the elevator from the first floor as she finished the last of her sandwich. _Two minutes left until my lunch break is over, I'm right on time. _The elevator door opened and she walked in, left alone in the tiny cubicle. As she rose past floor number five, her cell phone started ringing. She flipped it open quickly and put it to her ear.

"Sakura speaking," she stated professionally.

"Hey there, forehead, long time no talk!" Ino's voice rang out cheerfully from the other line.

"Ino?!" Sakura cried, startled, "what are you doing? You know I'm at work!"

"Well, you said my name so I'm going to assume you're alone."

"…fine. Well I'm in the elevator so you have about 30 seconds to spit out whatever you have to say."

"Oh, chill out. I just wanted to check in with you and the whole seducing thing. It's been a while since our little café encounter."

"It's…getting there…I told you all about the fashion show, remember?"

"Yeah…but nothing since then? Come on, Sakura, get with it!"

"I know, I know. It's just…I want to get to know him better, you know? I want to learn his hobbies and his favorite foods and-"

"Sakura. Need I remind you that all you're doing is seducing him so that you can persuade him to merge with YOUR company? Please don't get emotionally attached, that's not the plan! We can't let your emotions get in the way of saving Haruno and Co., alright?"

Sakura felt her breath catch in her throat for a second, but regained herself instantly. "Of course, Ino, you know how I am, though. All those clubbing days made me an expert in flirting."

"Right, I can see how well that's working out for you," Ino replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Oh shut up, Ino-pig, I'm on it, I swear. Gotta go though, I'm back on the 50th."

"Fine, Sakura, I'll check in with you later. Hinata sends her regards and Shika told me to tell you not to screw things up. And I agree with him," she suppressed a laugh as she hung up the phone. Sakura shut hers as well, but not before looking at it for a moment, rethinking Ino's words.

"_Don't get emotionally attached." _Ino's voice replayed the phrase over and over in Sakura's mind as she stepped out of the elevator.

-------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, Naruto didn't notice Sakura's slight uneasiness as she took a seat.

Sasuke had granted Sakura a desk of her own so that she and Naruto would stop chatting so loudly when they were stuck sitting next to each other. The whole situation had "annoyed" him and prevented him from "working efficiently." Unbeknownst to Sakura, Naruto oftentimes chided that Sasuke did the whole thing because he was jealous of the time he and Sakura always spent together, which in turn resulted in vicious glares from the CEO and more stationary objects being thrown.

"Hey, Saku-chan!" Naruto chirped, bringing Sakura out of her own thoughts and back into the monotony and reality of the office.

"Hey, Naruto," she replied, giving him a soft smile. Her eyes traveled to his forehead, where a large purple bruise shone blatantly. "What happened to you?" she asked in alarm.

"Oh, this?" he asked, gesturing at the bruise, "ah, nothing important. You know, me and Kiba are always getting into some sort of mischief."

_Kiba's sick today…_

"Anyway, Sakura, I just want to remind you that our company picnic is coming up. Don't mention it to teme, though. He always hates it."

"Oh yeah, you told me about it a while back. But why not talk about it in front of Sasuke?"

"He has to pretend to give a damn about the other male modeling agencies, and you know he's pretty misanthropic anyway."

"That is true. But why are other modeling agencies going to be there? I didn't even know there were that many!"

"There aren't. Only the higher ups are coming, and their agencies are located all over. We're the only one in Konoha, though. Honestly, the picnic is more or less a time for Uchiha Inc. to show off our 'talents', so to speak," Naruto grinned suavely.

"Right…" Sakura said, not really understanding, "and when is it again?"

"This Saturday. It's only going to be you, me, teme, Kiba, Neji, Lee, and Gaara, though. It would be too messy if everyone from Uchiha Inc. attended. Usually, it's just me, teme, and the guys, but Sasuke decided he wanted you to get to know the company better," Naruto flashed a sly smile.

_He wanted me to come? Sasuke specifically asked me to come? Hah! So I AM doing a better job than that Ino-pig thinks! _

"Dobe, I don't see you working," a cold voice echoed on the loudspeakers above Sakura and Naruto. The blonde rolled his eyes as he picked up his pencil. He gave one last grin to Sakura before the two of them went back to doing whatever it is Sasuke wanted them to do.

-------------------------------------------------

The rest of the week passed by quickly enough, and two or three games of strip poker helped keep things interesting. Finally, six o'clock on Friday evening arrived and Sakura felt the weight of the office lift off her shoulders temporarily. _Alright, just the picnic tomorrow and I'm free for Sunday! _

The pink-haired girl picked up her bag and set off towards the elevators when a voice stopped her.

"Sakura," came the Uchiha's suave call from his office. Sakura turned around, slightly surprised and faced the half-open door. She walked back towards it.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she asked as she stepped into the spacious room.

"Naruto told you about tomorrow, I trust?" he said as he placed folders into various drawers of a filing cabinet against the wall.

"He did," she said, wondering if this was all he wanted.

"Good," he said as he put the last of the folders away. Sakura shrugged to herself and began walking back out of the door, when his voice stopped her again.

"Be sure you arrive at Konoha Park at ten," he said as he turned back to his large desk, the bullet hole from Halloween still visible in the dark wood. "The CEOs from the other companies will be coming later, but dobe wanted us to be able to get to know each other in a more casual environment."

_What? Just the two of us?! Like…a date?_

"So…it'll be the two of us?"

"No…the others will be there." he said, raising an eyebrow.

_Damn…_

"I will see you promptly at ten, then," Sasuke finished, turning to face her. His hair looked perfect, and his face more handsome than Sakura had ever seen, if such a thing was possible. Either that or her mind was playing tricks on her.

"Alright, Sasuke, I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said and smiled at him before leaving.

-------------------------------------------------

Saturday morning arrived and Sakura was busy skimming through her closet for a nice enough outfit, hair still wet from a quick shower. _Dammit I should have woken up earlier instead of hitting snooze like ten times. _She glanced out of her bedroom window and saw large gray clouds in the distance, a foreshadowing of the summer rain storm that was expected later that night. _Hope it doesn't rain until the meeting's over… _She shrugged to herself before diverting her attention back to her wardrobe. After going through most of her clothes, she settled on a pale yellow skirt, pink tank, and white cardigan, and quickly left her apartment for Konoha Park.

She had been to the park a few times before with Shikamaru, Hinata, and Ino for informal business meetings and the like, but it had been a little over a year since her last visit, as she had been working at Uchiha Inc. The park was huge, with a crystal blue pond resting in the middle and trees grown together to create intricate pathways. There was an ornate gazebo near the pond, where the business meeting was to be held. The park itself was empty today; passersby probably knew today was the big meeting, and none of them were willing to felt the wrath of Sasuke Uchiha.

Sakura made her way to the entrance, where she was only met by Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke.

"Hey, everyone," she greeted, "where are the others?"

"Dobe apparently forgot to tell them to come early," Sasuke replied, looking irritated.

"Ooops," Naruto said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head, "they're still coming, though, so don't worry. They'll be here when the other CEOs arrive. Anyway, it's only going to be thirty minutes before they're here and we can kill time easily enough." Naruto flashed his eyes at Kiba for a moment before looking back at Sakura.

"How are you doing Sakura?" Kiba asked her, smiling.

"Well. Thanks, Kiba."

"That's good."

"…yep."

"…"

"…"

Sakura readjusted her purse in an effort not to look as awkward as she already did. _I've been working with these guys for a while now! How is it that I have no idea what to say to them when we're outside of the office?_

The sky grew slightly darker, and more awkward silence ensued before Naruto hastily broke the tension.

"Oh, shit!" he cried, slapping a hand to his forehead. Sakura looked at him in alarm. "I left the wine back at the office!"

Sasuke looked at him, even more irritated than before.

"Is it that big of a deal?" Sakura asked naively.

"Of course it is! The other CEOs always come here in their most impressive suits, bragging about how much money their companies are making and what type of yachts they've invested in. They expect the best from us, so we get the finest wine in Konoha as a small way of showing off. It's crucial that we have it!" Kiba and Sasuke both nodded slightly in agreement.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. _Stupid, rich bastards. _

"Dobe, I'm expecting wine here in twenty minutes," Sasuke warned coolly. Naruto stepped back slightly, not wanting to get strangled in case Sasuke lost it.

"I have an idea," Kiba began, "let's split up. Naruto and I can return to the office really quickly to get the wine, and you two can stay here until the rest of the guests arrive."

"Good idea, Kiba," Naruto agreed, grinning, "let's leave now as to not waste any more time!"

Before either Sasuke or Sakura had time to interject, the two men had hailed for a cab and set off for UchihaInc. Sakura turned to face her boss, whose eyes traveled the speeding car off into the distance. He turned towards the park, not meeting her gaze.

"Do you come here often?" he asked her, in an attempt to rid any awkwardness still present.

"Well, I used to when I still worked at H-," she caught herself, "I mean, before I started working for you. Do you?"

He didn't answer for a moment while he swung open the gate to the entrance. "Sometimes after work." Sakura raised her brows in surprise, which he didn't notice. "It's peaceful, and I don't often look forward to going home."

Sakura didn't know how to respond at all; this piece of news about her boss had left her speechless, and even more so since it was coming from him.

Sasuke turned to her as he held the door open, allowing her in before himself.

"Why don't you like going home?" she asked finally as she stepped in.

"My bastard of a brother is always making a mess of it, along with his…ardent friends. The maids leave by six so there isn't much company when I'm there," he replied as he shut the gate behind him.

"What about your par-"

"My parents both died when I was six," he stated calmly as he walked forward. Sakura watched his advancing figure in front of her with sadness. _No wonder he doesn't like large groups of people, he's always been so alone… _

Before either of them had said anything more, the clouds rumbled with thunder. Sasuke glanced up slightly as a drop of rain splashed on his shoulder. Sakura did the same and saw a dark sky with clouds thick and heavy, threatening to give way. They picked up their pace slightly along the intricate pathway, trees on either side of them. The drizzle quickly transformed into mist and less than a minute later it had began raining and a clap of lightning lit the sky. The sound startled Sakura as she tripped slightly.

"We need to hurry before it starts pouring," Sasuke warned as he turned around to face her. Without saying more, he took her hand in his and began leading their way to the gazebo at an extremely fast pace.

_His hand is so warm and strong… _Sakura smiled slightly as she followed him. Another boom of thunder echoed and the rain began to fall more heavily. Sakura felt her damp hair fall lifelessly and hit against the sides of her face as they increased their pace.

Suddenly and without warning, she tripped over a stray tree root and felt herself tumble on top of her boss. Surprised, he let go of her hand as he fell right onto a large puddle of mud.

_FUCK._

Sakura quickly climbed off of the CEO's back and helped him up. He was completely covered in mud, his expensive suit ruined. For a moment he didn't say anything and simply wiped some mud off of his face. Sakura could not help it any longer, and let out a giggle.

"What. Is. So. Funny?" he asked her coldly as he glanced down to examine his clothing.

"You look so funny!" she laughed as her boss looked at her with the most professional gaze he could muster, still covered in mud.

"Oh, really?" he asked, eyes narrowing. He bent down swiftly and before Sakura realized what he was doing, a large clump of mud hit her in the shoulder. She let out a gasp as Sasuke stifled a grin, still attempting to look affronted.

"You- You-," she began, but couldn't find any words to describe the crime he had just committed against her. Instead, she, too, picked up a handful of mud and thrown it at him. It didn't make much of a difference, as he was already covered in it, but she had to retaliate somehow.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes even more, and Sakura backed up slightly. _Uh, oh._ He flashed her a smirk, and before she knew it he had grabbed her in an awkward sort of embrace, covering her in some of the mud that he had on him. She shrieked slightly as mud covered her hair and clothing, but laughed all the same.

Unfortunately, they hadn't realized that they were inching towards the forest and this time Sasuke tripped on a tree root, bringing the two of them down into the mud once again. Even he could not compose himself and let out a laugh, the first one Sakura had ever heard. It rang out warmly against the cold rain now splashing on them. _He sounds so happy when he laughs, I wish he would do it more often!_ Sakura smiled broadly and she, too, joined him in laughing, and for a moment the two of them forgot that it was raining at all. Sasuke stood up and quickly lifted her off of the ground as another streak of lightning illuminated the dark sky.

"Damn! The meeting!" Sakura cried as she remembered that the guests were to be arriving in less than five minutes. Sasuke, completely calm and composed, took her hand once again and they began sprinting the rest of the way. The gazebo quickly appeared in sight and they were quickly sheltered by the white roof. A table stood towards the side, classy looking finger sandwiches set on top of it.

Sakura looked at Sasuke and he looked back at her. The two of them looked as though they had been stranded in the wilderness for months, covered in mud and leaves.

"I'm so, so sorry," Sakura began apologizing, since the whole thing was her fault for tripping over the tree root in the first place. Sasuke put a hand up to silence her.

"I'm well aware of how clumsy you are," he said apathetically, "I should have expected it."

Sakura narrowed her eyes and wanted to retort to his statement, but rolled her eyes instead and kept her mouth shut, secretly glad that the tree root had been there.

Barely a minute had passed when Naruto's voice chimed out against the storm. "Hey guys, we're ba-" He fell silent against the sight of his boss and cousin standing under the gazebo, covered in mud. Sakura blushed slightly and she and Sasuke inched away from each other. _Yeah…I bet this looks REALLY awkward. _She glanced down at herself for a second. _Dammit, now I have to go buy new shoes! These were so expensive, too. Damn mud. _

Naruto, holding on to two bottles of fine wine, stood alongside Kiba, who held an umbrella overtop the both of them. Behind the two of them stood Lee, Gaara, Neji, and the guests, who were being sheltered by umbrellas held by their chauffeurs. No one knew what to say for a moment.

"Thank you all for coming," Sasuke said as he stepped forwards, acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary as another boom of thunder roared. "As you can see, today's weather is in no way appropriate for a business meeting, so I'm afraid you all should go home."

The guests and the rest of Uchiha Inc. stared back at him.

"…are you serious?" Kiba asked, forgetting about the umbrella as he dropped his hand slightly. Sasuke gave him a do-I-look-like-I'm-not-serious? look and the guests turned towards their chauffeurs. Sasuke turned around and walked back towards the gazebo and left his guests standing, baffled. They muttered to each other as they turned around and quickly left. The rest of Uchiha Inc. stood still, waiting for Sasuke to say something.

"Well, I'm not letting this wine go to waste," Naruto decided as he walked in to the gazebo, Kiba behind him. Neji, Lee, and Gaara shrugged to each other as they followed suit. Sasuke turned around and saw his employees helping themselves to the food laid out on the table. Sakura walked over to him and held her plate out in front of him.

"Just because there isn't a meeting, it doesn't mean you can't enjoy the picnic," she told him as she smiled. He looked at her closely for a moment as though he were going to say something, and instead picked a sandwich up off of the plate.

There was a loud _pop _as Naruto undid the corkscrew of the wine bottle and fizz oozed out of the top.

"Hehe, oops!" he grinned as he poured wine out into six crystal wine glasses. "Come on, everyone. I didn't go through all that trouble of getting this wine to drink it myself!" He passed a glass to each of the men and then handed one over to Sakura. Before long the gazebo was filled with casual chatter as everyone became more relaxed.

Naruto walked over to Sasuke.

"So it looks like you and Sakura had some fun while I was gone," he winked as he nudged his best friend gently in the arm.

"Just a small trip," he said coolly as he suavely sipped his wine. Naruto glanced over at Kiba, who was busy talking with Sakura. He caught his gaze and grinned broadly and Sakura turned around to face Naruto. She turned from Kiba to Naruto and then back to Kiba.

_I wonder if…oh, never mind. I'm sure they didn't plan for this to happen. Besides, it's no like they knew I'd trip over that tree. _

-------------------------------------------------

**Flashback**

_I wonder if Kiba's here yet, I told him to get here ten minutes before Sasuke was supposed to. _Naruto stepped out of the cab and walked over to the entrance of the park where Kiba was waiting for him.

"Okay, you know the plan, right?" he asked him.

"Of course I do, I helped you come up with it," Kiba grinned as he opened the gate. They walked a fair bit down the path and came to a halt. "You know what, Naruto? We should get jerseys, 'cause we make a good team."

"Let's wait and see if this works first. Those jerseys can be quite pricey if you ask me. Hm. Sakura's really clumsy, so I'm going to count on her to trip on this," Naruto stated as he pointed to a tree root lodged into the ground. Kiba smirked as the two of them bent down and lifted it higher off the ground.

"In her heels there's no way her foot won't get caught in this. And then Sasuke will become really concerned about her ankle and…" Kiba didn't finish. He stood up alongside Naruto and the two of them grinned again as they walked back towards the entrance. Kiba glanced up at the darkening sky.

"Do you think it's going to rain today?" Kiba asked Naruto as they shut the gate behind them and stood waiting for Sasuke. Naruto shrugged in response as he saw Sasuke approach them from his limo.

_Let's hope it does. _

-------------------------------------------------

**Preview: **"I can tell this isn't you, your cover's blown."


	11. What Hurts The Most

**Chapter Eleven: What Hurts the Most**

**Disclaimer: **After years of working on this fic, we STILL do not own Naruto.

**Author's Note: **Surprise! WE ARE STILL ALIVE. And can't apologize enough for not updating often. :\ But here it is! The next chapter. In all honesty, we completely forgot what the plotline was supposed to be following last chapter's preview ("I can tell this isn't you, your cover's blown."), but we did feel the need to get the story moving some, so you'll find this chapter uncharacteristically angsty (or so we hope!)! We know there isn't much humor here, but don't worry, there is more than enough time for humor in later chapters (because we do still hope to finish this fanfiction). So, without further ado, we present to you chapter eleven :)

--

Sakura shakily stepped out of the elevator on the 50th floor of Uchiha Inc., her lunch break having finished only a minute ago, greeted by her blonde "cousin" who had enthusiastically jumped up from his desk at her arrival.

"Hey Saku-" Naruto's enthusiasm quickly transformed into concern after one look at Sakura's uneasy face. "What's wrong?!"

Sakura ignored his question and walked straight down the hall into her boss' room, not bothering to knock. After the mud incidence a few months prior, both she and Sasuke had abandoned the norms of formality that typically exist between a CEO and his employees, and were nearing the level of comfort he and Naruto shared. Sasuke didn't look up as she entered his office, and continued scribbling away on the large stack of paper adorning his desk like a centerpiece.

"Sasuke…" Sakura began, struggling to keep her voice from shaking as much as her hands were, which she hastily moved behind her back.

"Hn." His typical response to most questions.

"I was wondering…if I could possibly have a few hours off on Thursday morning and come in to work late."

At this, Sasuke put down his pen and met her gaze, interest having taken over him.

"This isn't something I typically allow. Why?"

Sakura bit her lip slightly, choosing her words carefully. "Family troubles."

Her boss watched her closely for a second before picking up his pen again. "I suppose that's legitimate. I expect you back here by 2, then."

"Thank you, Sasuke," Sakura said in the most professional way she could before silently exiting the room and shutting the door quietly behind her.

**--**

**Flashback**

As Sakura exited the 50-floor building and walked out onto the busy streets of Konoha, as they always were around noon during workdays, she grasped her coat tightly in an effort to shield her from the harsh winter weather. It took her a moment to notice a tall man leaning against the building, slowly exhaling a ring of smoke as he lowered his cigarette. His face was handsome; rugged, uneven facial hair gave off an aura of mystery, complemented by lack of emotion visible in his bored eyes. His hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and he carelessly flicked his cigarette onto the street ahead before glancing at Sakura out of the corner of his eye. _He's gotten more attractive since the last time I saw him. Too bad he's Ino's, even if neither of them will admit it!_

"It's been a while since I've seen you, Shikamaru," Sakura smiled as she walked towards her old friend. "I'm surprised, actually; usually you just call me every few weeks to give me updates on how the company's doing."

"It was a drag coming all the way out here, believe me," he said as his eyes traveled over the cars driving past them. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he stood, deep in thought. Sakura noticed, and something inside the pit of her stomach worried her. _He's here in person. Something's not right._

"What's up, then? It must be important if you've come by my lunch break."

Not wanting to beat around the bush, Shikamaru took a deep breath before speaking.

"Sakura, I came here asking if you could come by Haruno Co. in two days' time. There are some problems at the company-"

"But last time we talked you said everything was going okay! Did TenTen stop supplying? Have sales gone down dramatically? We're not being sued or anything, are-" Sakura's interruption was cut short when Shikamaru gently, but firmly, took hold of her shoulders. Looking her in the eye for a moment, he leaned in and spoke softly into her ear.

"Your father is sick, Sakura, and his condition is only getting worse."

Before Sakura could fully grasp the extent of what she had just been told, Shikamaru had disappeared out of sight.

**End Flashback**

--

Naruto barged into his best friend's office after Sakura had gone home, only to find Sasuke filing away the last of the day's paperwork.

"You gave Sakura the day off on Thursday??" the blonde asked incredulously.

"So you were eavesdropping?" Sasuke responded coolly.

"You shouldn't be surprised, you know."

"I never said I was."

"Answer the question, teme!"

Sasuke locked the drawers and sat back down at his desk to face his friend.

"I didn't give her Thursday off, but she's coming in late."

"Oh. Is she okay?"

"Family troubles."

"…family troubles…that's weird. I haven't heard anything…" Naruto said thoughtfully, since Sakura was his cousin, after all.

"I expect it was a lie."

"Then why did you give her time off?" Naruto raised his eyebrow. Giving his employees what they asked for was very unlike Sasuke.

"…_they're _coming."

Naruto's eyes widened and he nodded his head slightly in understanding before holding the door open for him and his boss to finally leave the stuffy office.

**--**

**Thursday, December 4****th****, 8 AM, outside the building of Haruno and Co.**

Sakura thought she felt her heart stop for a moment. _I haven't seen this place in so long; I can't believe I hadn't even thought to come by and visit it myself. _She hesitantly climbed the steps and entered the polished glass door.

The lobby was homely; a small chandelier hung in the middle of a spacious circular room, and a polished oak secretary's desk stood against the far side of the area. A crackling fire in the leftmost side of the room kept it warm and toasty. Sakura couldn't help but hold back a smile as she rushed towards the desk, taking Hinata by surprise.

"Oh, Sakura-sama!" Hinata cried as she came around the other side of the desk and gave her old friend a warm hug. "I haven't seen you in weeks! How are you feeling?"

Sakura smile faltered a little when she remembered her father. Hinata realized, and looked down sadly.

"How's my father, Hinata?" The purple haired girl wrung her hands – a nervous habit of hers that Sakura first noticed during Hinata's job interview. She recognized habit well, at this point. Hinata looked up slowly and met Sakura's eyes with her mysterious lavender ones.

"He's not very well, Sakura-sama. He wanted to see you, so he sent Shikamaru-kun to ask you to come by." Hinata started towards the elevator with Sakura following closely behind. Together they ascended 34 floors till they reached the top of the building. Haruno and Co. wasn't as large as Uchiha Inc., and had always been a humble company. Sakura recalled the first day she had stepped foot in Uchiha Inc. – its ostentatious presentation had taken her completely by surprise, and the handsome and well-kept CEO didn't help. _How can you be thinking about _him _at a time like this? _She mentally scolded herself as they got off the 35th floor.

Ino rushed over to them, knocking her secretary's chair over in the process, grabbing Sakura in a tight hug. "Forehead! It's so good to see you!" Ino had taken over Sakura's old desk since she had been away, and was now assuming the role of co-CEO alongside her father. Shikamaru's desk stood opposite Ino's, as he was Haruno's right-hand man and head corporate spy.

"Let her go, you don't want to suffocate her." Shikamaru rolled his eyes as he stood up to greet her as well. _It feels so weird to be back here. I never realized how much I missed everyone. _The four friends stood together in silence, all eyeing the tall, polished door separating them from the CEO of Haruno and Co.

Sakura took a deep breath as she started towards her father's room, the other three hesitantly following. She knocked quietly on the door before allowing herself in.

Sitting in front of her was a fragment of what Sakura remembered her father to be. He was physically much weaker than before, and the lines on his face more prominent than ever. He looked up at her with his kind, emerald eyes, and gave her a sad smile. The complete opposite of her new boss.

Sakura, completely taken aback by her father's state, ran to him and knelt down at his feet.

"Father…what's happened to you?!" she cried as she took his bony hand in hers. _Why didn't I come to see him before?_

"Sakura, my little girl, you seem more happy than ever before." He smiled at the irony of his statement, as Sakura sat kneeling before him, tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"What are you talking about? I can't believe I haven't seen you since I've left. I feel like such a terrible person, and a complete failure as a daughter-" Haruno silenced her by slowly raising her to her feet.

"Your eyes are shining brighter than I've ever seen them, and your voice sounds richer and more at peace every time you call me." Sakura made a move to interrupt, but her father continued sternly, "Now Sakura, take a seat across my desk because I have things of importance to discuss with you. Would you three please give us a moment alone?" Haruno turned his attention to Ino, Shikamaru, and Hinata, who obeyed wordlessly and shut the door behind them. Sakura took her seat across from her father.

"Now listen, Sakura," Haruno began, "Haruno and Co. is a dying company. You and I both know that, and you know that's why you're currently working at Uchiha Inc. Our company is doing well enough to survive on its own for another half a year, 8 months at best."

_I didn't know things were that bad…why didn't Shikamaru tell me?_

"I told Shikamaru not to tell you because I wanted to talk to you in person about this. As I'm sure he has told you, however much I objected, I'm not in the greatest shape of my life," he laughed warmly as he folded his hands on top of each other. "I'm telling you this because I want you to really focus on your mission at Uchiha Inc. I know you're trying your best," Sakura winced, "but I want you to have a secure future in case I'm not here six months from now to oversee business."

"What are you talking about, father, of course you'll be-" Haruno put a hand up to stop her.

"Sakura I've done more in one lifetime than I could have ever asked for. I've started a successful weapons company, albeit the market for weapons is down right now, and have gotten to know wonderful people like Shikamaru-kun, Ino-san, and Hinata-san. I've been able to provide you with a successful education and have watched you grow into a beautiful and ambitious young woman. There's not anything more I can ask for, other than your continuing success, and for that I urge you to try to secure this deal with Uchiha Inc."

Sakura looked down at her hands, knowing that any sort of objection to her father's wise words was futile.

"I've told you all that I've needed to, and it's time that you returned to your job. I'll have Shikamaru keep in touch."

Haruno stood up and walked over to his daughter.

"I'm very proud of you, Sakura," he assured her warmly as he gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head. Sakura stood up and wrapped her arms around her father, cherishing the precious few moments she had with him.

"I love you, father," she whispered in his ear as she let go. Standing opposite him, she tried to regain her composure. "I will do my best, and in six month's time I guarantee that this company will be back on top." _SHANNARO!! _

Haruno smiled, eyes twinkling, as he opened the door for her to leave.

As she walked out of the building, she replayed what her father had said to her in her mind. _I know you're trying your best… If this is my best, I'm failing miserably. I really need to focus, it's been almost a year and a half and what have I got to show for it? It's time to take this seriously. _Sakura hailed a taxi and wiped a single tear off her cheek before stepping inside the vehicle.

**--**

**Thursday, December 4****th****, 8 AM, Uchiha Inc. **

"Good morning, teme!" Naruto cried happily as he got off the elevator in time for work…early. Sasuke was just unlocking the door to his office.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Naruto pouted as he walked over to Sasuke. The dark haired man rolled his eyes as the blonde strolled into his office, took a seat at the large chair behind the desk, and put his feet nonchalantly on a fresh stack of paperwork.

"So…when are they coming?" Naruto asked as he examined his fingernails.

"…they should be here any minute." Sasuke replied as he shoved Naruto off his chair and sat down on it. Unfazed, Naruto sat on the edge of the desk instead.

"Why are they coming again?"

"For the same reason as always."

"To humiliate you and this company, and make you feel worthless. I don't understand why you put up with it, Sasuke." Naruto stared his friend in the eyes, but Sasuke didn't respond. Before Naruto could say another word, there was a sharp knock on the door. Naruto stood up and folded his arms, ready for the storm.

A moment later, the door swung open, revealing a tall blonde man, dressed from head to toe in black, long bangs concealing half of his face while the rest of his long golden hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Behind him stood a man dressed the same, black bangs covering his face as well, but not enough to hide the familiar, blinding red eyes. The blonde smirked at seeing Naruto.

"Well, well, well. It's been a while since I've seen you, Uzumaki. Still sucking up to the Uchiha, here?" the blonde laughed and Naruto's eyes narrowed. It was obvious the man was trying to provoke him, as he always did.

"I could say the same to you, Deidara." His grin faltered slightly and his eyes narrowed as well. Sasuke kept his gaze on the man behind him.

"What is it you want, Itachi?" he said coldly, putting a temporary halt to the rivalry between Naruto and Deidara.

"…just came by to check up on my little brother," Itachi stated, no hint of emotion apparent in his tone. Deidara spoke again.

"Yeah, we wanted to see how poorly your company's been doing. Don't think we don't know that business is going down – it's our job to keep up with what's going on here. It only makes _us _all the more successful," Naruto's hands tightened into fists as he continued, "Where's that pink-haired tool you hired, Sasuke? Itachi was telling me about her earlier; I was hoping we'd meet," he grinned at the CEO and Naruto's eyes began to turn fiery red in anger.

"She's not here, thank god," Naruto said between clenched teeth. Deidara sighed and folded his arms.

"Don't let her get away from you now, Sasuke. Remember what Itachi told you last time he was here?"

Naruto turned to face Sasuke, whose eyes were still stuck on the older man behind Deidara, seemingly uninterested in Deidara's question. _What did Itachi tell him last time? _The blonde thought to himself.

Itachi made no move to speak, so Deidara took the lead once again.

"'Don't drive her away, lest you want to spend the rest of your life miserable and alone.'"

Naruto's fists shook slightly as he made an effort to keep calm. Deidara glanced behind him at his mentor, and grinned coyly at the two younger men in the room. He had a knack for pushing Naruto's buttons, and he was well aware of that fact. "I mean, you don't want to end up like this guy over here, living off the lowly salary of your soon-to-be dead-end job, resorting to living in a small apart all by your-"

Deidara staggered backwards, clutching his face, eyes wide with surprise, as Naruto panted heavily with his fist still in the air. He calmly wiped the blood that was trickling out of his busted lip before turning back to Naruto and smirked at him before throwing a punch in retaliation. There was an earsplitting crunch as his fist collided with Naruto's nose, and the blonde was almost knocked to the ground. Itachi stood unmoving, still at the entrance of the office, calmly watching the chaotic scene before him. Naruto jumped up quickly, ignoring his obviously broken nose, and made another move to hit Deidara.

"NARUTO, THAT'S ENOUGH," Sasuke finally intervened, and both men stood glaring daggers at each other, realizing that the fight was over.

"…Deidara," Itachi called the older blonde, ready to depart. Deidara threw one last menacing glare at Naruto before turning to Sasuke.

"I can't wait for our next encounter," he grinned before leaving the office behind Itachi.

Naruto turned angrily to his boss, eyes still red, not bothering to keep his composure any longer.

"HOW COULD YOU LET HIM SAY THAT?!" he yelled. Sasuke didn't stop him. "He completely BASHED our company and practically called Sakura a WHORE! I don't understand why you don't STAND UP FOR YOURSELF, Sasuke! And all that BULLSHIT about you living 'ALONE and MISERABLE.' It just makes me SICK-"

"Naruto, take the rest of the day off to get your nose looked at," Sasuke said as he shuffled his papers. He knew Naruto was extremely sensitive when it came down to matters of loneliness; he just wasn't as good at hiding it as Sasuke was.

"Sakura does like you, Sasuke, and you know it. And even if she didn't, there's no way you'd ever end up alone and miserable. I'm SURE of it," Naruto said shakily as he hastily tried to hide the tears forming in his eyes. Sasuke couldn't bring himself to look at him, for fear that the blonde's wall would crumble right before him, and instead said nothing. Naruto gave him one last look before leaving the room.

Sasuke sighed and put his head in his hands. _I know, Naruto. It's because I'm lucky enough to have you._

_--_

**Author's Note: **We won't be updating a preview for the next chapter on here, but we do have an idea for it, so don't worry :) As always, don't forget to review! And thank you to all our dedicated readers :)


	12. I Will Follow You into the Dark

**Chapter Twelve: I Will Follow You into the Dark**

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Author's Note: **We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!! We know it's been forever, but we have both been EXTREMELY busy, what with schoolwork and all. But it's getting close to Christmas, so we thought we'd give you a nice, fluffy, winter-y chapter to warm you up [ignore the awful cliche right there]. We can't guarantee when we'll have time to update again, but your reviews keep us going and motivate us to keep coming back to this fanfiction :) [P.S., **The Slingshot Effect **may have written us the most epic review we have ever read, so a great big thank you to them from both of us!!!] And now without further ado, enjoy chapter 12! We look forward to hearing from you guys soooooooon~ ^_^

-----------------------------------

"WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY. SNOW STORM IN EFFECT. BLIZZARD LIKELY, 12-16 INCHES OF SNOW EXPECTED. TAKE CAUTION."

Sasuke glanced up at the new 62-inch TV Naruto had gotten him for Christmas. _I should send home everyone I don't need. If they die because of the snow, I won't have anyone to work for me. _He pressed the button on his much-used intercom, aka part two of Naruto's gift, which he was beginning to take a liking to.

_Click._

"Everyone except dobe, Sakura, Neji, Gaara, Kiba, and Lee may go home due to the inclement weather. I expect you to return to work in three days' time."

_Click._

-----------------------------------

"…I expect you to return to work in three days' time."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the sound of her boss' voice echoed over the intercom and turned to look at Naruto as he was attempting to balance a pencil on his chin. She rolled her eyes and reverted back to the modeling applications she had been filing. _Another rejected application… Damn it, this trashcan's full again. _

Suddenly, it hit her that there was a huge snowstorm going on outside of their office at that very moment. _Oh my god. And I can't leave?! _She hurried to the window and peered 49 floors below; the weather report claimed that there was an accumulation of seven inches thus far. The sun's rays danced along the untainted blanket of white snow, turning the usually busy street into a peaceful winter wonderland. It would have been a gorgeous site had it not been the cause of Sakura's extended work day.

She decided to go consult her boss about it.

"Sasuke," she said as she approached the door, "I was wondering why you wanted me stay here, knowing that there's almost a foot of snow outside."

"I need some people here to take care of the office while everyone else goes home."

Not exactly sure of how to respond, she shut the door quietly and walked, defeated, back to her desk. _Looks like I'm stuck here. Shit. _

-----------------------------------

**4 hours later…**

_Click _

"There is two feet of snow outside; ergo, you will be spending the night here. Dobe, you know where the extra blankets are. That is all."

_Click_

Sakura woke up, startled yet again by the blaring intercom system. She glanced over at Naruto, who was just standing up.

"What was that about?"

"Oh good morning, Saku-chan! Or good evening, rather. Oh, that? That was just teme telling us that we'll be spending the night here. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go get the extra blankets."

Sakura stared at him dumbfounded. "Sleeping HERE? ALL NIGHT? WHY?!"

"Two feet of snow outside. Doors are shut tight. Sucks, right? This seems to happen every year though, so all of us are pretty used to it."

Sakura was still fazed. "Wait so we have to sleep here? All night?"

Naruto watched her closely, as if she had lost all manner of comprehension.

"Well that's generally what happens when there's a blizzard blocking your only way out," then, finally noticing the hint of alarm in her eyes, he laughed, "oh it's no big deal, really. Sasuke gets tired of working at around ten, so we sit up here on the 50th for a few hours, chat, play a little strip poker, and then push Sasuke's desk back a few feet and go to sleep in his office. So now I'm going to go get the extra blankets and pillows. Wanna come with?"

Sakura bit her lip, still frightened by the thought of spending the night at Uchiha Inc. with six extremely good looking, albeit goofy, male models. _Wait, why am I frightened? I should be celebrating! _She grinned slightly to herself and got up to accompany Naruto downstairs.

-----------------------------------

**One hour later…**

Naruto and Sakura had set up all the blankets and pillows and made a cozy, makeshift bedroom out of the Uchiha's office, much to his dismay. As it was nearing 10 PM, he had been forced to put away his work for the day ("Get rid of all this shit, teme, work is overrated anyway" Naruto had said as he easily pushed the large desk back against the wall, papers sliding off of it in the process) and allowed everyone else to do the same.

_Click _

"Neji, Gaara, Lee, and Kiba, you can stop working. Teme's lightened up," Naruto grinned, taking advantage of Sasuke's intercom system.

_Click _

Sakura was busily fluffing up her pillow and getting ready to lie down when she noticed she was still in her suit. Naruto and Sasuke glanced down at their attire as well, and Sasuke promptly stood up and walked over to a door at the far end of his office. From there, he pulled out two pairs of pajamas for him and Naruto. He tossed an obnoxious orange pair at the blonde and the two of them quickly changed, forgetting that Sakura was in the room. _This never does get old. But wait, I don't have anything to wear! And how long has there been a closet here? _

"Err…Sasuke, you wouldn't happen to have any women's pajamas inside that closet, do you?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Sakura's face fell slightly. Seeing her try to make herself comfortable on the blanket in her scratchy suit, he all but rolled his eyes as he headed back to his closet and tossed a large shirt towards her.

She caught it, surprised, and held it out. It was a long, button down, white and blue, collared shirt, but the material was soft and cottony. Naruto grinned to himself as he turned to open the door to the office.

"Why don't you go change before the other guys get here, Saku-chan?" Naruto suggested, holding the door open for the startled woman, who hesitantly stood up, gripping her boss's shirt.

-----------------------------------

"Let's see your hand," Naruto commanded as he glanced up at Kiba.

"Nah, I fold."

"Great, then you guys need to lose the pants."

"It is no fun playing with you, Naruto, none of us stand a chance," Lee sighed and continued, "I believe a new game is in order."

Naruto was about to gather up the cards and reshuffle for a new game when he noticed a blushing Sakura standing by the door, clad in nothing but her boss' shirt. He grinned as he motioned for her to come in.

"Come and join us please, Sakura-san," Lee suggested politely as Kiba deliberately made a place for her next to Sasuke. She sat down shyly, carefully covering up as much of her bare legs as possible.

"You better watch out for the other guys when the lights are off and we're all sleeping," Kiba laughed suggestively.

"Kiba, how could you say something like that?" Naruto exclaimed in mock surprise. No sooner had he finished talking, the lights went out.

"Way to go, Naruto," Gaara muttered, flashing an unseen glare in Naruto's direction.

"Don't blame me! Kiba is the one that mentioned the lights going out," Naruto retorted, "besides, we have flashlights and a generator."

"Why isn't your generator working?" Sakura inquired, fearfully looking around the pitch-black room.

Neji took this moment to confess. "We do not own a generator. It was just a ploy to take Uchiha's money for the new shower heads."

"Great. Now what?" Kiba moaned.

"No worries! If I remember correctly, we are still in possession of flashlights," Lee reassured.

"Well, Lee, you don't remember correctly," Naruto continued, "remember that one time when we played flashlight tag on the roof after closing?"

"Oh yes, I do remember now. You tripped me and all the flashlights we had fell out of my hands off the roof and smashed into thousands of pieces!"

"…all the flashlights?" Sakura questioned.

"We only had three," Naruto stated.

Sakura smacked her forehead in disbelief. _Maybe it's true what they say. You can't be gorgeous _and _smart._

"Don't think I'm not aware of how stupid you are, dobe," Sasuke commented, standing up. By now everyone's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and it was possible to faintly see outlines of the objects around the room. "I had a generator installed myself, knowing that something would go wrong."

_Oh thank god! But wait… _"Why isn't it working?" Sakura stated the obvious.

"…it must not be plugged in."

A collective, group groan filled the room.

"No worries, no worries!" Naruto jumped up, the familiar grin plastered on his face. "All we need to do is find it and plug it in and we're golden!"

"Well, where is the thing?" Kiba turned his attention to Sasuke.

"Either the sixth floor or the sixteenth. Or twenty-sixth… Or any floor with a six in it."

"You don't remember?" Sakura cried incredulously.

"It's not my job to remember trivial matters such as generator locations."

_I hate my life right now._

"I have an idea!" Lee jumped up next to Naruto excitedly. "We should make this a competition!"

Naruto glanced at Kiba for a second before grinning even more widely. "That's an awesome idea, Lee! We can break off into teams of two and see who can find the generator first!"

"I'm in," Kiba agreed immediately, hopping up on Naruto's other side.

The other two men stood up wordlessly, knowing there was no point in objecting, leaving a confused Sakura still seated. "Aww, come on, Saku-chan!" the blonde held out a hand to help her up. "You know it'll be fun!"

"But…there are seven of us here! That would mean someone would be on their own!"

"Do not worry, Sakura-san, I do not require a partner!" Lee thrust out his chest confidently, eyebrows furrowed in sheer determination.

"See! Now come on!" Naruto persisted. Sakura tried to come up with another excuse, but before she knew it Naruto had grabbed her hand and effortlessly pulled her up.

_This is going to be a disaster._

-----------------------------------

"Ready…set…GO!"

A stampede of immature men ran for the door in unison and Sakura covered her eyes for fear that someone would break their neck. _Why do men have this inbred need to be better than each other at everything? I mean, it's futile anyway. They all suck equally. _

Before she knew it she and Sasuke were the only ones left in the small, dark room. Naruto had taken the liberty of dividing up the teams. Naturally, he and Kiba were paired up, Lee was working solo, and Neji and Gaara didn't care enough to object to working together, thus leaving Sakura with Sasuke. She didn't know what to do in this sort of situation.

"So…should we go?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"It's on the first floor," Sasuke informed her as he walked towards the door.

Sakura stared at his retreating form, dumbfounded. "Then what was all of that back there?!"

"I knew Lee would turn this into a game, so I figured it would rid me of Naruto and Kiba's idiocy for some time." He turned back around to face her. She had no idea how to respond, and continued to stare at him like a moron. "…if you're so opposed to accompanying me downstairs, you can stay here. I'll have the lights on in ten minute's time." He started back out the door.

"No, wait!" Sakura cried as she hurriedly grabbed a hold of his arm. "I…want to come." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her sudden enthusiasm before giving her a curt nod. The two of them set off towards the stairs.

-----------------------------------

**No one knows how many minutes later…**

After they had been climbing down stairs for what seemed like hours, Sakura decided to break the increasingly awkward silence between her and Sasuke.

"So, Naruto was telling me that this sort of thing happens pretty often," she attempted to start a conversation as she clutched the stair railing to keep from falling into the black abyss below.

"Once a year, usually. Although sometimes we are blocked in for several days."

Sakura's eyes widened in alarm at the thought of having to spend a week with six men clad only in an oversized shirt. Sasuke smirked at her expression.

"I wouldn't worry, most of the snow will likely have melted by morning."

"Oh…well that's a relief."

"I assume then that you would rather not spend several days stuck in this building?"

"I… It…" Sakura tried to come up with a response to his odd statement as they reached the 39th floor. "It would be strange, wouldn't it?"

"How so?"

"Well…six men and a girl…seems a bit sketchy, don't you think?"

"Hmm," Sasuke said thoughtfully, "I suppose I see your point. Especially since you are currently dressed like a cheap whore."

Sakura stopped dead in her tracks at his statement. "How dare you! It's not MY fault you don't own any women's pajamas!"

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly. "You should have been prepared."

"I- You- I didn't ASK for this to happen!" Sakura cried in anger. Sasuke laughed as he started down the stairs again.

"Calm down, I was only kidding." Sakura made a growling noise, not moving to catch up. Sasuke, noticing her absence, turned around and grinned slightly up at her. "If you don't come down, Sakura, I'm going to leave you here." Sakura, not wanting to be left in a 50-story building alone in the dark, thrust one last glare at Sasuke before descending.

Suddenly, a loud crash broke through the silence, causing Sakura to shriek and grasp hold of the railing tightly. Unfortunately, the surprise of the noise caused her foot to slip, and she felt herself begin to fall.

_Oh god, not again! _

"SASUKE!" She cried as she braced herself for the impact. The next thing she knew she was standing on the floor, Sasuke holding her steadily by the shoulders in front of her.

"Try not to make this a habit," Sasuke requested, recalling the fashion show incident, before letting go of her shoulders.

Sakura glared at him again and was about to retaliate when another loud crash boomed from somewhere in the building. She shut her eyes tightly and reflexively grabbed onto the front of Sasuke's shirt in fear. Sasuke glanced down, surprised, at the cowering woman, and shook his head slightly, smirking. "It's probably just Naruto," he tried to assure her. He became even more surprised when she didn't let go. "Honestly, Sakura, it's not a big deal," he insisted as he tried to pry her off of him. She finally did, but in the small space between them Sasuke could see the fear plastered on her face.

"Can we just…stay here until one of the others finds the generator?" she pleaded, looking from side to side.

"There's no telling how long that might take…why don't you stay here and I'll go the rest-"

"No!" Sakura cried as she grabbed his arm again. Sasuke was thoroughly bewildered by her behavior. "Don't leave me!" Sasuke sighed.

"I didn't know you were this afraid of the dark," he guessed, accurately. Sakura didn't respond, but only gripped his arm tighter. "Fine, I won't leave. We'll just sit here until one of them finds it, alright?" Sakura nodded shakily as he helped her down to a flat level of the staircase before the two of them sat down, leaning against the cold wall behind them.

_Ugh, now I've gone and embarrassed myself! He probably thinks I'm completely pathetic. And to top it off, it's freezing! Just my luck. No light, no heat, stuck in the middle of a 50-floor building with my boss, wearing one of his shirts, and because of me it's probably going to be awkward ten times over!_

-----------------------------------

**More minutes later…**

Sasuke sighed as he glanced at darkness below them for the fifth time. The two of them had been sitting on the level between the 38th and 39th floor for so long they had lost track of time. Sakura shivered slightly and wrapped her arms tightly around her knees in an effort to stay warm. Sasuke noticed and turned his attention towards her.

"Cold?" he asked.

_No shit, Sherlock._

"No, I'm fine," Sakura lied. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he began taking off his shirt. _What the- _"What are you doing?" Sakura asked incredulously. He didn't respond, and instead laid his shirt out on her bare legs as a makeshift blanket. "Sasuke, you don't have to-"

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke replied, folding his arms across his bare chest.

Sakura glared daggers at him. She had told him she was fine, why did he have to make her feel even more pathetic than she already was at the moment?

"I already told you, I'm fine! I don't need your stupid shirt. Besides it's not my fault that you don't have-"

Sasuke put a finger to her lips to silence her.

"For the love of all that is holy, stop screeching, Sakura. I'm sorry I was unable to provide you with proper attire for this weather and I take full responsibility for it, so this is the least I can do."

Sakura, unable to come up with a counter-argument, turned away from him in embarrassment. "…thank you, Sasuke," she said as she smoothed out his shirt. "Then the least I can do is have both of these dry cleaned for you. I'll take them home with me and give them back to you-"

"Again, don't worry about it. I'll be taking the one I just gave you back once we get the heat working again. As for the one you're wearing, you can keep it."

"But it's your-"

"I never wear it, and it suits you."

_It…what??_

"…I thought you said I looked like a cheap whore?"

"Well, not _that _cheap." Sakura hit his arm, causing him to laugh. "I already told you I was kidding, Sakura. You look as pretty as you always do, alright? Now will you stop hitting me?" Sakura ceased hitting him, deciding his apology was adequate. _Damn right, I look downright sexy in this oversized shirt! Wait…did Sasuke just call me pretty??_

"So…you don't want me to have this cleaned for you?"

"Must you always have things repeated before you fully grasp their meaning?"

"Oh shut up," she rolled her eyes, and he smirked.

"No, Sakura, I don't need it back. Now stop worrying about it."

"Okay, okay. Thank you, again, Sasuke."

"Hn."

-----------------------------------

**Even more minutes later…**

Twenty more minutes passed by and there was still no sign of light…or heat. Sakura started shivering again under the thin material of the shirts, and even Sasuke was beginning to feel the cold get to him.

"How long do you think it'll be before someone finds the generator?" Sakura asked him hopefully, between chattering teeth.

"There's no telling. None of them know it's the first floor, and I was expecting that I'd be able to switch it on myself within ten minutes of the lights going out."

Sakura winced slightly, knowing that she was the reason there was still no power.

"Sorry…"

"You apologize too much," Sasuke noted.

"…I'll work on that," Sakura rolled her eyes as she rubbed her arms in an attempt to heat up. Sasuke sighed and pulled her against his chest. "Wha- What are you doing?" Sakura cried out in surprise.

"Your shivering is only going to make me feel colder," he replied as he wrapped his arm around her waist, her small form fitting perfectly against his. She was practically sitting in his lap. "Better?"

Sakura bit her lip, and for the first time all night was glad that the light was out so no one would see her blushing like a tomato.

"Yes…thank you…" she looked up at him, able to see his face comparatively more clearly, and smiled genuinely at him. _I guess…the dark isn't so bad. _Sakura hesitantly made a move for his free hand and took it in hers. When he didn't object, she gingerly allowed her head to rest against his chest. To her surprise, Sasuke leaned his own head against hers, and within minutes the two of them fell asleep.

-----------------------------------

**Fifteen minutes later…**

"We found the generator, guys! And look, we got graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate from the pantry!" Naruto grinned as he showed off the bags of chocolate and marshmallows in his grasp.

"…and dropped a few pots and pans in the process," Kiba added, walking into the office behind him, holding a box of graham crackers.

All five of the men had returned upstairs after Naruto's victory cheer swept through the building, indicating that he had won the competition, only to find Sasuke's office completely empty.

"Where are the other two?" Neji asked.

Kiba and Naruto looked at each other before dropping the food and bounding down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Lee called after them.

"We're just gonna get Sasuke and Sakura; go ahead and start on the smores!" Naruto replied as they were halfway down the stairs to the 49th floor.

Not even a minute later, Naruto saw Sasuke's dark hair at the bottom of the stairs to the 38th floor. "Hey Kiba, I found-" Naruto stopped after he got a closer look at the scene before him.

"You found 'em?" Kiba asked as he arrived next to Naruto.

"Shhh!" Naruto hushed him hurriedly, as not to wake them up. "Where's the camera?" he mouthed to his companion. Kiba grinned and pulled a small digital camera out of his pocket before handing it to Naruto. There was a small _click _before a picture of Sakura sleeping in Sasuke's arms appeared on the tiny screen. "Excellent!" Naruto mouthed again, smiling broadly.

"Should we wake them up?" Kiba whispered.

"…nah. We'll save them some smores."

The two of them headed back upstairs, arm in arm, camera dangling triumphantly from Naruto's wrist.


End file.
